Insatiable
by allybz
Summary: Ellis Grant has spent her entire life trying to live up to her father's legacy. After publishing a paper detailing the behavioural sciences of dinosaurs she is approached by Jurassic World and offered the job of a lifetime. Going against her father's wishes, she chooses to instead follow her dreams believing that after 22 years InGen must have learnt from their original mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

The Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkley was one of the first programmes of its type in the USA, and since its inception had continued to be at the forefront of pioneering research, producing some of the top young minds over the past twenty years. Admission to the college was competitive, and the interviewing process was rigorous, but at the end of it all it was completely worth it. The researchers at Berkley are credited with uncovering the most influential findings in the world of geo-sciences, including putting an end to the arguments over the extinction of the dinosaurs sixty five million years ago – it had been proved by those at Berkley that it was the impact of a comet and increased levels of radiation that had inevitably ended dinosaurs reign as master species on earth.

Getting into Berkley had been a dream come true for Ellis Grant, who had spent the majority of her life on paleontological dig sites with her father. As a child she had donned her timberlands and khaki shorts and strode confidently alongside her father, rock pick in one hand, toothbrush clutched firmly in the other. Before the age of five Ellis, or Ellie as her father affectionately called her, was able to correctly identify almost seventeen species of dinosaurs – eleven herbivores and six carnivores – with nothing more than a femur or metatarsal to go on. Her father, Dr Alan Grant, had almost definitely played a part in her being accepted to her chosen college, given his high profile in the world of geoscience and palaeontology it would have been foolish of her not to expect her surname to carry some sort of meaning. Berkley had hoped that with his daughter there Alan Grant would finally guest at the college, give a seminar to students and professors alike but he never did. Alan had never been one for giving lectures, believing that the important work in palaeontology was done outdoors, with your own bare hands. He had little time for the likes of academics and museum curators and instead did everything in his power to distance himself from them.

Three years on, any ill feelings over her father's refusal to attend seminars had long since disappeared. Ellis Grant had successfully made a name for herself, one which stood apart from the legacy of her father, and one which she was incredibly proud of. In between her studies Ellie was still prominent in the dig scene, spending months on end in Montana with teams of volunteers, digging in a desperate attempt to gather all the research she needed to complete her dissertation; A study into the infant rearing behaviour of dinosaurs. Over the years she had uncovered numerous nest sites of herbivorous dinosaurs, duck billed hadrosaurs and dilophosaurus to name but a few, but until recently the existence of nesting sites belonging to carnivorous dinosaurs was nothing more than a myth. After uncovering the skeleton of an infant velociraptor, Ellis had soon discovered an entire pack of juveniles, with adults not far away. It was a scientific breakthrough, she had singlehandedly proven that not only were velociraptors social creatures, rearing their young in packs, but they were also extremely nurturing, keeping their young close until they were two-three years of age. Similar to the way a mother cheetah rears and protects her cubs in the planes of Africa today, a female velociraptor would have fed and defended her young on the planes of Snakewater, Montana.

When she'd published her findings in her dissertation, Ellie had become an overnight success. Her professors had been so impressed with her work and her independent research that they'd sent the twenty thousand word paper on to colleagues at other universities, who in turn had sent it on again, and so on and so forth until finally Ellis was met with an email requesting her paper be published officially in the Paleontological Journal, an honour that even her father had only had twice in his lifetime. One stipulation in the publication of her research was that Ellis Grant was to hold a seminar of her very own, where she would read portions of her paper and then answer any questions the audience may have about her findings. She'd been apprehensive at first, the idea of standing up in front of any amount of people seeming far too daunting to her, but after some persuasion from classmates and family alike she finally agreed to it.

Standing at the front of the auditorium Ellis ran a hand through her mousy brown hair as she read aloud from her prepared flashcards. She'd expected maybe a handful of people to turn up to the reading, and had been staggered when the dean had been forced to relocate her seminar not once but twice, finally settling on the largest room on campus. Even then there were not enough seats, people stood in the aisles and lingered at the back of the room, craning their necks in a desperate attempt to get a better listen at what it was Ellis Grant had to say. Her father was sat front and centre, a beaming smile spread across his weathered face causing wrinkles to form in the corners of his eyes.

"…and so, using potassium argon dating I was able to accurately date the skeleton. Proving my theory that dinosaurs, both herbivorous and carnivorous were inherently nurturing creatures." Ellis concluded her speech and finally her gaze flickered up to the crowd before her. She was met with a sea of faces, all of whom looked at her with intrigue; there wasn't a single person who wasn't listening – a true testament to her work and presentation skills, as even she knew that bones and rocks weren't exactly the most interesting things to hear about. Leaning forward towards the microphone once more she spoke again. "Err…thank you."

The crowd erupted into a deafening round of applause and Ellis took a shaky step backwards from her podium. She watched in a stunned silence as people who had travelled from all over the country congratulated her on what could be described as her life's work, though she'd never seen it as work really – more as a way of life. Her Professor stepped on stage, shook her hand and then took his place at the podium, opening the floor to questions. Ellie remained silent, her dark eyes flickering from one face to the next, she was becoming more and more aware of how underdressed she was for the occasion, wearing jeans and one of her dads old plaid shirts, but she didn't have time to dwell on that because there was a sudden influx of questions that only she had the answer to.

She answered questions for over an hour, until her throat felt raw from over exertion and her hand rough from shaking those of strangers all of whom had wanted nothing more than to meet Ellis Grant, the top mind in her field. Setting herself down on the edge of the stage Ellie thanked her professor and bid him goodbye before leaning back on her elbows, her legs dangling over the edge of the stage, and looking out at the – now empty – room she had just spoken in.

"Ellie." The voice of her father pulled Ellie from her thoughts and she looked up at him with a smile.

"Hey Dad." She greeted, taking the water bottle he offered her gratefully, taking a few large gulps, she hadn't realised just how parched she was.

It took a few minutes for Alan Grant to settle himself down beside his daughter, he wasn't as young as he once was and it seemed as though the years of kneeling for excavations were finally catching up with him. "I'm really proud of you kiddo, what you did up there, it was really amazing."

A soft blush flourished upon Ellie's cheeks and she nodded bashfully, choosing to take another sip of her water rather than reply – the Grants were notorious for not ever expressing their feelings, it made them uncomfortable.

For a long while the pair simply sat in silence, taking comfort in one another's company, which was something they rarely got to share these days what with Ellie's school schedule and Alan's work. Their blissful silence was only interrupted when a figure to the left of the stage cleared his throat, making his presence known. The Grant's glanced towards the source of the noise, the same look of confusion flashing in their eyes as the man stepped from the shadows, revealing his identity. For Ellis the look of confusion was genuine, she had no idea who this man was or why he was here, for Alan Grant the confusion was a different kind, he knew exactly who the male was and was only confused as to why he'd come along after specifically being told to stay away.

Simon Masrani wore a grey fitted suit and his shoes which appeared to be made from some sort of alligator skin clicked against the wooden floor of the auditorium as he walked toward Ellie and her father. Dr Grant stood up, a frown set on his features but he did not speak, Alan Grant was not necessarily a confrontational man, he believed that everyone deserved the chance to explain themselves.

"That was quite a speech you gave Miss Grant." Masrani spoke, his tone sounded genuine enough and the expression on his face only served to solidify his statement. Ellis pushed herself down from the edge of the stage, standing next to her father and nodded slowly.

"Thank you, Mr…" Her sentence trailed off quietly.

"Masrani." He offered a quick reply and she smiled curtly. "CEO of the Masrani Global Corporation, you might of heard of us. We've got a park off the coast of Costa Rica that's right up your alley."

"Jurassic World." Ellis finished his sentence and this time Masrani nodded. Ellie felt every muscle in her father's body tense and she spared him a sideways glance, just to make sure he wasn't about to keel over. She wasn't stupid, she knew what her father had been through, she knew all about Jurassic Park, the San Diego disaster and Eric Kirby going missing on Isla Sorna – her dad didn't like to talk about it much, and so most of what she knew came from the internet, that or Ian Malcolm's books.

"Why are you here Masrani?" Dr Grant seethed, wrapping one arm protectively around his only daughters' slender shoulders. "I've told you, no force on earth will get me on that island of yours."

Masrani held his hands up and nodded once more. "If you please Dr Grant, I'm not here for you. I come with an offer for Ellis."

Alan's grip on his daughter tightened and Ellie's eyes widened in shock. "Me?"

"Yes you Miss Grant, in your field you're the top mind. Jurassic World would benefit greatly from having someone like you on board."

"That's not going to happen." Her father snapped and when Ellie wriggled from his grasp Alan looked at her incredulously.

"What would you need me for?" Ellie asked, folding her arms across her chest as she did so. "You've already got your dinosaurs…"

"There's not another person on earth that understands the behaviour of those animals like you do Ellis, I have men who have worked at my park for ten years who know less about a velociraptor having seen one than you do having only seen bones and dust."

Ellie could practically feel her heart beating out of her chest, never in a million years had she thought this kind of opportunity would come her way. Sure she loved digging up bones and learning all she could from them, but to see a real dinosaur in the flesh, that was something dreams were made of.

"I'll do it."

Alan Grant released an exasperated sigh and ran a hand slowly through what little hair he had left. Simon Masrani grinned and Ellie pinched herself, making sure that all of this was actually happening.


	2. Chapter 2

The journey to the island had been smoother than Ellis had anticipated. Her father had told her terrible tales of helicopters that practically fell from the sky due to terrible wind shears, but there hadn't been a helicopter in sight. Instead, Ellie flew into San Jose International Airport on the mainland of Costa Rica and from there she was ferried – quite literally – to the island.

Despite the glorious sunshine on the mainland, the closer the ship got to Isla Nublar the denser the cloud cover became. Ellie could just about make out the island, rugged and craggy breaking sharply out of the ocean. A chipper voice over was broadcast throughout the ship, spouting out facts and figures to the passengers, all of whom were more interested in getting a decent photograph of the island, all of them except Ellis who instead remained seated, gazing out the window but listening intently. "Isla Nublar is not a true island, but rather a seamount, rock thrusted up and out of the ocean by underwater volcanic eruptions." The voice explained and Ellie nodded along silently.

"There is evidence of Isla Nublar's volcanic origins all over the island, there are numerous steam vents scattered across the twenty two square miles and the ground is often hot underfoot. So visitors are advised to wear appropriate footwear at all times." Ellie's dark eyes flickered to the hiking boots she was wearing momentarily before glancing upwards again when the sounds of shouts and exclamations erupted from the other passengers on the boat. The thick fog had cleared and Isla Nublar was revealed in all its glory. The ocean crashed against the dock and rugged cliffs came into view, the dense fog that had previously concealed the entire island now only blanketed the tops of hills, giving the entire island a mysterious appearance.

"My god it looks like Alcatraz." One passenger exclaimed and others agreed, Simon Masrani stood from his position next to Ellis and spoke for the first time the entire journey.

"Yes, but much, much bigger." He moved to stand closer to the large front window and everyone moved to let him pass. At the front he extended his arms, a wide smile plastered upon his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Jurassic World."

When the boat finally docked the tourists rushed forwards, every one of them wanting to be the first to step foot on dry land, the first to get into the park. Ellis hung back, she was just as excited as the rest of them to get into the park, but she, unlike them, was an employee and was expected to display a certain amount of self-control.

Swinging back and forth on her heels in a desperate attempt to curb her excitement Ellis watched as the last passenger disembarked the boat before finally kicking herself into gear. She leant down and picked up her old rucksack, it had belonged to a friend of her father's – Billy – whom Ellie had had the biggest crush on as a child. Billy had travelled to Isla Sorna with her father and barely made it out alive, he claimed to owe his life to the very backpack Ellie was slinging over her shoulder, and so when she'd told him that she'd accepted the job offer to work at the park, he'd immediately given her the backpack, for luck. She was about to step off the dock and join the back of the queue for the monorail which presumably transported passengers to the park itself but was stopped when Masrani caught hold of her elbow.

"No Miss Grant, we're staff, we get to take the more…shall I say, scenic route." A sly smile danced on his lips and an excited spark twinkling in his dark eyes. The man oozed enthusiasm and excitement, it was contagious and Ellie soon found herself grinning back at him. Repositioning the strap of Billy's backpack on her shoulder she followed the business man for a few hundred yards, until they reached a small parking lot where three Ford Explorers awaited them. Ellis raised an eyebrow at the sight of the old models.

"These are pretty old school." She mused, stepping forward and running her finger along the paintwork, greens, yellows and reds covered the car and there was evidence of old stencil lettering that had long since been removed.

"They were salvaged, from the original park. It's our way of paying homage to its vision." Masrani replied quickly, not bothering to look at Ellie. A handful of other employees milled about the parking lot, some of them smiled at her whilst others were far too immersed in their phones or tablets, a couple of tall, muscled men stood in front of Masrani, speaking in hushed voices. Not wanting to pry into something that didn't concern her Ellie went back to looking at the car, circling it twice and studying it intently. If this vehicle really was salvaged from the original Jurassic Park then there was a good chance her father had ridden in it, and the thought of him made her smile. The pair hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms, Alan Grant had been completely against his daughter travelling to Costa Rica, and had tried to put his foot down more than once. For the first time in her life Ellie had disobeyed her father's wishes, she'd accepted the job and in turn left the country – pretty extreme for someone's first act of defiance – but not before writing him a heartfelt letter that said she hoped he could find it in his heart to forgive her, she was after all only doing what he had done twenty two years ago.

Masrani climbed into the front passenger seat of one of the Explorers and Ellie followed behind him, climbing into the backseat of the same car. A few other employees climbed in along with her and others filled the two other cars behind them. The tree vehicles moved in convoy through the maintenance roads of the park. The air was thick, damp and hot and Ellis mentally cursed herself for putting on jeans that morning and not something a lot cooler. When the dense foliage cleared somewhat she turned to look out of the window, wanting to see the landscape better. "It's not like the mainland." She mused aloud, to no one in particular but one of the muscled men to her left nodded in agreement.

"It's more of a deciduous rain forest." He explained quietly. "The vegetation on the mainland is more of your classical rainforest."

"It's the microclimate." Ellie concluded, turning from gawking out the window to look at the man sat next to her. He was much taller than she was, and his arm was about as thick as one of her legs. She was unsubtle in the way she checked him out and he smirked when he noticed the way her dark eyes lingered for a fraction too long. A soft blush peppered Ellis' cheeks and she spoke again to avoid embarrassment. "The microclimate only occurs at elevated levels, making this island tropical."

The man nodded again. "Making it the perfect environment for the animals."

The animals. Ellis had been so preoccupied with the geology of the island that she'd almost forgotten the reason she was here. Eyes wide she turned away from the man once more, pressing her forehead against the glass of the window. She squinted, shielding her eyes from the streaming sunlight, and scoured the open planes for any sign of life.

The only thing she was able to make out was a large tree trunk, thick and curving with absolutely no leaves at all. She frowned and was about to turn from the window when the trunk moved, twisted to face the cars that drove alongside it. Ellis gasped when she realised that what she was seeing wasn't the trunk of a tree at all. "Oh my god." Ellie said softly, she was the only one in the car staring at the animal – the others had all seen their fair share of dinosaurs by now. "My. _God_."

She had never seen anything more spectacular in her life, she'd known what to expect of course, Jurassic World had been open long enough that everyone on earth had by now at least seen a photograph of a living dinosaur. Ellie had watched numerous videos, and was always glued to the media coverage of the park whenever they unveiled a new attraction but she had somehow still not believed it to be true, and now, she was stunned into silence. The dinosaur, a brontosaur, watched the vehicles through small dark eyes and Ellie couldn't believe how beautiful the creature was. It's long neck swayed as it moved its head, following the cars as they drove past, it was almost graceful in the way it moved. She had studied dinosaurs her entire life, and for the longest time it was believed that brontosaurs had spent the majority of their time in shallow water in order to support their large bulk, it was clear now to Ellie that this creature didn't live in a swamp, and never had. "My god." She said again and the muscled man next to her laughed softly.

"You better get used to it kid, you aint seen nothin' yet."

For the remainder of the car journey Ellie had been completely silent, her head rested gently against the glass and her gazer was fixed firmly out of the window. She listened to her heart beating loudly in her chest and drummed her fingers rhythmically against her thigh, she couldn't tell if she was excited or nervous, probably both.

The maintenance roads soon turned to concrete tracks and the vehicles drove into a much more built up area. Ellie sat up straighter and watched as the rolling fields disappeared into the distance, being replaced by large walls, warning signs and electrified fences. "We're now entering the park itself." Masrani explained from the front seat, having seen the look of confusion flashing on Ellis' face in the rear view mirror. "The walls…fences…all security measures, separating the visitors from the attractions."

"Makes sense." Ellie agreed as the car rolled to a stop. Masrani got out first, adjusting his suit whilst Ellie climbed out the back seat. The man who had sat beside her clambered out too, nodded a quick goodbye and disappeared off through a gate signed 'Restricted Area, Employee Access Only'.

To their right there was a large, seemingly man made, lake, a vast expanse of water that went on for at least a mile. Shielding her eyes from the midday sun Ellis studied the water carefully. It looked calm, almost to the point of being inviting, but something told her this wasn't a swimming pool. "Our mososaurus habitat." Masrani said, his hand gesturing to the vast expanse of water. Ellie took a step forward but stopped when he spoke again. "I wouldn't get too close if I were you, she's known to jump out. We're taking extra security measures, building up the walls. No expenses are spared when it comes to guest safety." It sounded like a spiel he had rehearsed and performed multiple times and Ellie responded by merely raising an eyebrow.

"How big is it?" She asked.

"She's approximately sixty feet."

"There's only one animal in there?" Masrani nodded, a look of confusion flourishing upon his features when he caught sight of Ellis' frown. "Roughly speaking there should be one predatory carnivore for every four hundred herbivores, or smaller carnivores." She explained, but Masrani's confused expression never once faltered. "She shouldn't be in there alone. It's a recipe for disaster."

Simon Masrani's eyebrows shot so far up his forehead that Ellie was surprised they didn't disappear into his hair line and for a moment he was silent before shaking his head. "No, no, like I said we spare no expense when it comes to safety. She's quite happy in there by herself." The CEO eyed the water anxiously before gesturing towards one of the larger buildings. "Let me show you to the control room, introduce you to the staff."

Ellie glanced over her shoulder towards the water and frowned once more before turning to Masrani with a smile. "Sure, yeah, lead the way."

 **AUTHORS NOTE: Hey guys, thank you for sticking with the fic. This chapter was mostly aimed at getting a sense of the island, with a small introduction of a character who will play an important role in the rest of the fic. I hope you guys are enjoying it & love Ellis as much as I do! For previews / posts surrounding Ellis & Insatiable follow me on tumblr ( .com) **


	3. Chapter 3

When the elevator doors opened Masrani stepped out and Ellis followed after him, stopping only when a man, who was more muscle than man really, stepped out in front of her. "I'm going to need to see some identification kid." She raised an eyebrow, annoyed at the fact that Masrani clearly hadn't told people that she was coming today, but mostly irritated that this was the second time someone had referred to her as 'kid' in under an hour. Ellis was twenty one years old, and though she admitted she could be baby-faced at times, that didn't make it any less annoying when people openly pointed it out.

Ellie frowned at the guard and he frowned right back at her, folding his arms across his chest and point blank refusing her entry to the control room. Masrani was deep in conversation with someone on the other side of the room and so for a short while Ellis and the security guard stood in stalemate. The tension was immediately diffused when a hand appeared on either shoulder of the broad man before her, a head popped around and Ellis was greeted with the smiling face of a young man in thick rimmed glasses. He looked different to pretty much everyone else in the room, all of whom were dressed professionally – he looked like he'd just walked in off a college campus. "Easy there big guy." He breathed out, the security guard raised a threatening eyebrow and the spectacled man took a brisk step backwards, flashing Ellie a quick smile before turning his attention to the man before him once again. "Do you know who this girl is?" He pointed at Ellie and took the security guards stony silence as reason to continue. "That girl right there is Ellis Grant, she knows more about the animals in this park than the people who cooked the little suckers up in the lab. Pretty soon she's going to be so high above your pay grade that you're going to regret ever getting in her way."

Ellie scoffed and the security guard spared her a scrutinising glance, she stood up a little straighter when he looked at her, trying to give off an air of importance. "So you know…" The shorter male continued. "Try to show a little respect." Seemingly overcome with adrenaline he patted the guard twice on the chest, immediately regretting his decision when the much taller man tensed his jaw and glared. "Ooookay, Ellis, shall we?"

Nodding she sidestepped around the extremely disgruntled looking guard, quickening her pace to catch up with him. "Hey, thanks." She chirped, standing rather awkwardly beside him when he took his seat at his desk once more. After pushing a few buttons he handed her a pass with her name and photograph on, emblazoned in block lettering was her new job title: Asset Behavioural Analyst.

"Don't mention it." He hummed with a smile as she took the pass from him and wrapped it around her neck. "I'm Lowery, I'm sort of the heartbeat of this place. You know, I keep it ticking over." He leant back on his chair, almost jumping out of his skin when it nearly tipped over under his weight.

"Ignore him." The girl to his right muttered, and Ellis laughed holding out a hand to introduce herself. The girl, who had long curled blonde hair shook Ellie's hand and smiled. "I'm Vivian."

"Ellis."

Pleasantries over and done with Ellie relaxed somewhat, allowing her gaze to flicker around the room. The control room was unusually dark, Ellis thought, compared to the other buildings she'd had to walk through to get here. She put this down to the fact that it was also the first room she'd entered that wasn't open to members of the general public, there was absolutely no need for the control room to be aesthetically pleasing, so long as it was practical. The lighting in the room was dim, and Ellis could only make out the faces of the workers sat at the work stations from the way their monitors cast eerie glows across their features. The only sound in the room was the methodical tapping of keys by the workers and the constant low hum of the Blue Gene/Q supercomputers which ran along the far wall. As far as she could count there were at least three supercomputers in this room alone and Ellie nodded to herself in astonishment. There was more computing technology in this room than in any privately owned company in mainland America, and Ellis didn't even want to think about how much all of this must have cost – it had to be in the multimillions.

"You know about computers?" Lowery interrupted her moment of silent wonder and Ellie turned from the Blue Genes to face him once more, giving a slight shrug she shook her head.

"Not really, but I know enough to get by."

Lowery laughed quietly and Ellis smiled, she liked this guy already, he didn't seem to take himself anywhere near as seriously as everyone else she'd met today – that and he had a pretty cool collection of model dinosaurs lined up around his work station. Moving towards them she picked up a small figurine triceratops and turned it over in her hands. "You know, it's been proven that they travelled in herds. Your whole ecosystem is off."

He feigned offense and Vivian sniggered to the right of him. "Did your dad teach you that?" Lowery asked, glancing up from his computer screen with genuine interest. "I'm sort of really into him." Ellis raised an eyebrow and Lowery backtracked at a remarkable speed. "Academically, I am really into him academically."

"Wow." Vivian teased.

"You know what I mean; Alan Grant is a paleontological rock star." Ellis laughed, she'd never even heard her own mother speak so highly of her dad, not that she minded, he deserved all the praise he got – he truly was brilliant.

The ding of the elevator doors turned everyone's attention away from Lowery's blushed cheeks and when a woman with cropped red hair stepped out he stood up, saluting comically before taking his seat once more. "Captain on deck." He bellowed and a couple of workers sniggered, the red headed woman responded by simply rolling her eyes and ordering Lowery to clean up his work station.

The woman was beautiful in a very put together sort of way, her cropped hair sat perfectly, not a single hair out of place and her icy blue eyes scrutinized every face in the room, making sure they were all getting work done before finally settling on Ellis. She raised one shaped eyebrow, looking Ellis up and down once quickly before giving a smile that Ellie didn't believe for a second was genuine. "You must be Ellen, the new girl." She stated, her tone breezy and sickly sweet.

Ellie bit her tongue, breathing out her nose before correcting the woman. "It's Ellis actually…but yeah."

"Ellis?" The woman questioned, her gaze now fixated on the large screen that took up the whole of the back wall. Various red lights flickered on a large map, indicating exactly where the animals were in the park, there were infinitely more blue lights that all seemed to be congregated in the centre of the island – Ellie figured they must represent the park visitors. When Ellis nodded slowly the woman spoke again. "Isn't that a boy's name?"

Lowery blew out a low whistle, turning away from the two women and pretending to be immersed in rearranging his model dinosaurs into herds. "I'm Claire Dearing." The redhead continued. Ellis merely blinked at her, she'd already decided she didn't like this woman, but it was clear she was of some importance and back talking the boss was never a good idea. "I'm the park operations manager; I oversee the running of Jurassic World, and make sure every day goes as smoothly as possible."

"That's a big job, there must be twenty thousand people on the island at any one time…and then there are the animals."

"Our capacity is twenty five thousand; we normally have around eighty three percent of that on the island at any given time. As for the assets, they're not really my field. They're yours. By the way do you have any allergies?"

Ellis opened her mouth to answer no but was interrupted by Lowery who spun round in his chair, a grin set firmly on his face. "Oh my god yeah, you should definitely get the shots. The Compy's have bit a few kids in the past and they swell up like balloons. All red and puffy it's hilarious." Claire's head snapped to the side and she narrowed her eyes at Lowery who squinted through his glasses before speaking again. "But terrible, really bad, such a shame."

"I bet that sucked." Ellis mused. "Reptiles saliva contains serotonin which can be pretty excruciating; I can't imagine what prehistoric serotonin feels like."

Lowery tapped his forefinger against his chin and nodded slowly, he'd met Ellis Grant no more than ten minutes ago and he'd already made a complete fool of himself twice. He wouldn't be surprised if she never spoke to him again. "Yeah, totally." He agreed, a hint of a blush flourishing on his cheeks as he turned back to his computer.

Claire Dearing was still frowning when Ellie looked towards her once more, her arms were folded tightly across her chest and her eyebrows were knitted together forming a faint 'V' shape in her forehead. She was dressed in a lavender coloured pencil skirt paired with a white shirt, definitely not the colours for someone working in an establishment like this, but then Ellie didn't really get the idea that Claire Dearing ever actually stepped a foot outside, especially not in those ridiculous heels.

"Vivian." Claire addressed the girl with the tousled blonde hair, and she looked up raising her eyebrows expectantly. "Have you got eyes on Grady? He was supposed to be here," She glanced at the expensive looking watch on her wrist "seven minutes ago to show Ellis to her post."

Vivian punched a few keys into her computer, bringing up an image on the big screen in the centre of the room. For a while Ellis didn't see anything but then she saw it, a flash of green, or it might have been blue, whatever it was it had been fast. She took a step closer to the screen and held had hands against her hips, squinting up at the large monitor, trying to make out any signs of life. "What was that?" She asked, glancing over her shoulder towards Vivian who smiled.

"It's the raptor paddock; he's normally around there somewhere."

"You've got raptors? They're not in the brochure." Ellis thought back to the paperwork she'd read on the six hour flight, it had listed every species on the island and given each one a small summary – there had been no mention of velociraptors.

"They're not open to the public, we're still learning about them, and they're proving particularly difficult to control." Vivian explained and Ellie nodded, turning her attention back to the monitor which showed what looked to be an empty paddock.

Velociraptors, or rather the behaviour of them, were the reason Ellis was here on the island in the first place. Her paper detailed as much as could be determined from bone fragments and location but to see the animals in the flesh, to watch the way they worked and thought. It would be a dream come true. She stared at the screen for a long time, before frowning and speaking once again. "Where the hell are they?"

"Believe me, if they don't want you to see them, then you wont." A new voice, but one she recognised, made Ellie turn around. Stood in between Vivian and Lowery was the muscled man she'd shared a car with that afternoon, his large arms were folded across his chest and a hint of a smirk flourished upon his handsome features. He nodded a quick greeting. "I'm Owen. You the new girl?"

Ellis pursed her lips and nodded. "Ellis."

"Alright then Ellis, let's go see ourselves some dinosaurs."

 **AUTHORS NOTE: A filler chapter here guys. Basically I wanted to introduce Ellie to some of the other characters in the fic, set the grounds for future friendships etc. The next chapter will be more exciting I promise so stick with it. Leave a review if you've got the time. & ask me anything on tumblr (lydamartin) **


	4. Chapter 4

They left the control room behind and travelled through the back passageways, away from the eyes of the days visitors. Owen's strides were long and Ellis had to quicken her pace to keep up with him, a difficult feat when absolutely everything they walked past caught her attention. Ellis heard bleating and wandered away from Owen by a few hundred yards, coming to an animal enclosure unlike any of the others she'd seen in the park that afternoon. The fences were low, wooden and certainly not electrified, in it goats and lambs grazed on the lush grass – not a care in the world. She estimated that there must have been about seventy of them in there. "What's this for?" Ellie asked innocently, glancing over her shoulder towards Owen who ran his fingers across his stubbled chin.

"Those." He pointed towards the animals. "Those are Rexy's breakfast, lunch and dinner." He smirked when Ellie's eyes widened and for a millisecond she frowned at him before turning back towards the small herd of animals.

"She doesn't hunt?"

"No, we feed her. We feed all of the animals ourselves, there's less room for error that way." Ellis folded her arms across her chest and watched the small mammals for a while, they had no idea what was in store for them, it was sad she thought, but then again everyone's got to eat. "What we do is we send a goat into the paddock, and then light a flare to let her know where it is. She's pretty susceptible to flares actually; we've got your dad to thank for that."

At the mention of her father Ellis turned around, one shaped eyebrow kinked ever so slightly. "Just how old is this t-rex?"

"No one knows exactly, early twenties for sure."

"So you're saying that the animal that eats these goats, is the same animal that almost killed my dad?" Owen nodded slowly, he couldn't quite work out whether or not Ellis was taking this information well. "Can I see her?"

A laugh tumbled from Owens lips and he ran a hand through his hair. "Sure, but later. I want you to meet the girls first."

"The girls?"

"My babies."

"You brought your kids to the island with you?"

"You'll see, come on, say goodbye to the goats Ellis." He teased and Ellie rolled her dark eyes in response, trudging after him as he walked away.

It wasn't long before Ellis discovered that Owens 'children' weren't actually children at all, not unless he kept human children in a paddock with walls at least twenty foot high and armed guards on patrol – which she doubted. He took the metal stair case two at a time and Ellie followed diligently after him, it was eerily quiet, the only sounds coming from their heavy booted feet coming into contact with the metal walkway. The walkways crossed the paddock, giving a 360aerial view of whatever lay beneath them. Leaning against the bars Ellis craned her neck, her dark eyes scouring the shrubbery for movement, her ears listening tentatively for any signs of life. She waited. Several minutes passed by. Flies buzzed around her but still she saw nothing.

She heard them before she saw them, a low reptilian hissing sound that caused the hairs on her arms to stand on edge. She shuddered, her dark eyes flickering to where Owen pointed. Amongst the ferns and foliage Ellis could just about make out the head of an animal, it had to be at least a foot long and was completely motionless. Its eyes were dark, black like the night sky in the dead of winter and they were trained solely on Ellis, watching her coldly. Ellis could just about make out a row of sharp teeth which ran from the pointed snout all the way back to the small hole in the side of the animals head, an auditory meatus, its ear. Aside from being blood chillingly terrifying the head of the animal reminded her of a lizard, albeit an incredibly large one, and its skin was somewhat similar to that of a crocodile. The animal was a muddy greenish colour, with vibrant blue stripes that ran from its jet black eyes all the way down to the tail.

"That's Blue." Owen whispered, making Ellie jump and she shot him a glare. He smirked and she shoved him lightly.

"No kidding." She breathed out; looking back to the spot where the animal had been, but Blue was nowhere to be seen. "My god, where did she go?"

This was Owen's moment to shine; he smirked again at Ellis – earning himself a raised eyebrow in response – before puffing out his chest and taking a step away from the railing. He dipped his hand into the pocket of his khaki trousers, pulling out a small clicker which he held up at around head height. Ellis turned to face him fully, leaning against the railings and watching him carefully, it all seemed a bit theatrical, and he definitely thought highly of himself, but he was nice to look at so she allowed him to continue unquestioned. Pursing his lips together and positioning his tongue against the back of his two front teeth he blew hard, releasing a high pitched whistle.

Instantly the foliage came to life, the hissing Ellis had heard earlier became louder, and more menacing, there was a series of sounds that she knew were coming from the animals down below as they prepared to step out into the open. They were communicating. She spun around just in time to see the animals dart into the clearing beneath them, arranging themselves in a way so that Blue stood slightly forward, away from the rest. Ellie's eyes widened and she stared open mouthed at the animals. She watched as they shifted their weight from one muscled hind leg to the other, lightly bobbing their heads as they did so. Their smaller limbs, attached at their torso were strongly muscled, with three fingered hands each of which ended in a frighteningly sharp claw.

"Eyes on me!" Owen ordered, clicking the device in his hands once. Astonishingly the raptors did exactly as they were told, twisting their necks quickly so that they were looking directly at Owen. Ellis released a gasp, one of both amazement and disbelief and looked quickly from the raptors to the man beside her. There was a wide grin fixated on his handsome face and he shrugged in a nonchalant sort of way, like this kind of thing was no water off his back, not a big deal at all. But to Ellie, it was ground-breaking. The brain cavities of velociraptor skeletons had suggested that they were extremely intelligent, and her father had told her terrifying tales of how quickly they were able to adapt and learn, but she had never in a million years thought they could be controlled, that they would respond to orders.

"So…" Owen pulled her attention away only to redirect it once again by pointing out the various raptors, all of whom were still watching him carefully, seemingly awaiting permission to look away. "You've got Blue, she's the beta." Ellis nodded, it was clear that the animal held some dominance over the other three, and her colouring meant her name was pertinent as well.

He pointed to the raptor on Blue's right, she was a lighter shade of green but had a similar blue colouring around her eyes and snout. "That there's Charlie, she was a little shit to get in line. But she's getting it." Owen wasn't looking at Ellis now, his gaze was fixated solely on the animals and he smiled affectionately as he spoke about them, it was kind of endearing Ellis thought.

To Blues left was a raptor who was slightly smaller than the others, her colouring was much darker than any of her siblings and she was entirely green, with no distinctive markings. "Delta." Owen nodded towards her with a smile. "She's the baby, your laid back kind of girl. She's probably smoke pot if I'd let her." Ellis laughed but Owen simply moved on. "…and then there's Echo."

His eyebrows knitted into a hint of a frown as he pointed towards the only brown velociraptor in the pack. "I'd watch myself around her if I was you, she's slow to trust, quick to eat. A total femme fatale, she's a real bitch." Rolling his cerulean eyes he clicked the device in his hand once more. The signal obviously excited the raptors, who started chattering away below the pair once again.

"Okay play nice girls, we're a family, and everyone gets an equal share. I'm looking at you Charlie." He threw four rats down into the paddock and to Ellis' amazement each raptor took only one before disappearing into the foliage once more.

"Well colour me impressed." She finally breathed out, turning to face Owen and tucking a strand of fly away brown hair behind her ear. "How long did they take to train? How old are they? What's their growth rate?" Her words were unintentionally fast and Owen's blue eyes widened as he held his hands up in mock surrender.

"Slow down, slow down. Shouldn't you at least buy me dinner before I tell you everything about my kids?" He was on the charm offensive, and had she not been so excited by the fact she had just seen four velociraptors in the flesh she might have blushed, but she didn't, instead she rolled her eyes. Bouncing back from his failed attempt at flirtation Owen bent down to pick up the bucket which had contained the treats he'd thrown down to the girls, shrugging he walked along the metal walkway towards the stairs, expecting Ellis to follow. "They're three months old, and I figure by eight months they'll be fully grown, so probably double their size now." Ellie hurried behind him, making mental notes of everything he said – she'd make actual academic notes later.

"Where's their mom?" She inquired, a look of genuine confusion flashing upon her features when Owen laughed.

"You're looking at her." Stepping down from the last step he dropped the bucket by a large metal sink, nodding at one of the workmen - a silent signal telling him to clean it whenever he got the chance. "These animals, just like most of the animals in this park were made in a lab. They were engineered; think of them as lethal test tube babies."

"But my research proved that they were inherently nurturing creatures, an infant would remain with its mother long into its adult life before finding a mate of its own and-"

"No daughter of mine will be finding any _mates_ any time soon." He waggled a finger in Ellis' face and she scoffed quietly.

She stepped in front of him and walked backwards, as she spoke. "What I'm saying is a parental figure is imperative to their learning of social behaviours. Without a mom they have no one to look up to or learn from, there'd be anarchy!" She dramatically threw her arms out before letting them crash against her sides once more, a hint of a smile playing on her lips when she realised just how ridiculous she sounded. Her words were true though, and she knew the science to back her up if need be.

Owen laughed a low gruff laugh and placed a strong hand on Ellis' shoulder. "Listen, they imprint on me the minute they're born, so as far as they're concerned I'm their mama. Which is why they listen to me, and do what I say…occasionally."

"Well, I mean it's been known to happen with other animals. Female's adopting abandoned infants and raising them as their own…"

"Ellis, science and reason will only get you so far. This is life, it's real, and you can't think your way through it all the time. It'll come back and bite you on the ass. Literally."

There was a moments silence between the pair before Owen spoke again, arms folded across his chest. "Now. Do you want to be pack mother to my kids or should I tell Barry the good news that he's a father to quadruplets. I think he'd be pretty into it." At the side of the cage a tall dark skinned man, who Ellis recognised as being one of the workers from the parking lot that afternoon, stood cooing over Delta and Ellis laughed. Holding out her hand to shake she raised an eyebrow.

"Welcome to parenthood." Owen smiled and he shook her hand firmly.

 **AUTHORS NOTE: VELOCIRAPTORS! Haha, but in all seriousness I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I also hope that it got the playful friendship between Ellis and Owen across well enough. As usual if you have the time please leave a review and if you want to ask me anything you can find me on tumblr (lydamartin) Thank you!**


	5. Chapter 5

Nine months passed without any serious injury, aside from a twisted ankle on Ellis' part when she fell off a table at a cocktail bar on the mainland. In her defence it was her twenty second birthday and Owen had dared her to dance on the table to Taylor Swift, in a tequila fuelled haze she had drunkenly obliged and thoroughly regretted it the next day. Back on Isla Nublar however, things were running smoothly. Ellis had begun her training with the raptors five months ago and had progressed leaps and bounds since then, she was now able to tell the identity of each individual raptor by their vocal sounds and all of them had learnt to trust her in the same way that they trusted Owen. By now the girls were one year old, and twice as big as they had been the first day Ellis had come into contact with them, though she and Owen still treated them like children.

"Elle!" Owen shouted from the platform which was raised high above the paddock. Shielding her eyes from the blaring midday sun Ellis placed a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrows at him in silent questioning.

"Keep them at the other end of the compound; I'm going to hang some birthday treats." Owen yelled once more and Ellis rolled her eyes, he'd been planning this for weeks, a special 'birthday' treat for the girls, a sort of welcome to adulthood party. "And keep them occupied Ellis, I don't wanna loose and arm today!"

"Yeah yeah." Ellie waved him off, grabbing the clicker they used when using commands from the worktop before heading to the far end of the compound.

She released a high pitched whistle as she walked, and immediately the foliage came to life. Out darted the four velociraptors, fully grown and absolutely thriving. They skulked alongside her as she walked, chattering away to one another as they did so. Ellis often wondered what it was Blue and the rest of them communicated about, and had on more than one occasion thought up scenarios, the likes of which deserved their own MTV show. Realistically speaking she knew that the only thing that really mattered to the raptors was where their next meal was coming from, and as long as she wasn't that meal she was happy.

Satisfied she was a good distance from wherever it was Owen was hanging treats and tasty morsels in the paddock she turned to face the cage with a wide grin. "Well good morning ladies." She cooed affectionately. For the longest time she had cringed at the way Owen spoke to the raptors, but after spending as much time with them as she had, and getting to know each one of their individual personalities she couldn't help but love them the same way Owen did.

"We'll start with something simple." She continued, retrieving the clicker from her pocket and holding it up. Her dark eyes flickered from one raptor to the next before she clicked the device twice. "Eyes on me." Immediately the velociraptors did as they'd been told, staring intently at Ellis, moving only to redistribute their body weight every now and then.

"Echo." She addressed one of the raptors by name, holding one hand out she held up two fingers. "Two steps back." A low hissing sound erupted from the pit of Echo's stomach and Ellis could have sworn she saw the dinosaur's eyes roll, but after some protest she did as she was told stepping away from the bars of the cage two paces. "Very good." Ellis congratulated, picking a rat out of the bucket she'd brought with her and hurling it in Echo's direction. The dinosaur caught it expertly between her jaws and swallowed it near whole.

"Alright Charlie you're up." She continued, her dark eyes flickering to settle on the raptor. Charlie stared back at her through dark eyes, the sunlight making the blue that surrounded her orbs look brighter and more beautiful than ever. "Eyes left." Ellis commanded with a click of the device in her hands and a low whistle. The velociraptor obliged immediately without any question and turned her large head to the left. A smile caused the corners of Ellis' lips to curve upwards and she nodded enthusiastically. "Awesome! Clever girl!" She cheered, throwing another rat into the enclosure.

"What's next Grant, roll over?" The voice that interrupted her session was one of a man Ellis had grown to loathe over the past nine months. He was of average height, rather heavy around the middle, with greying hair and an ego bigger than the entire island. In short, Vic Hoskins was an asshole and Ellis hated him.

"What do you want Hoskins?" She muttered a scowl setting onto her pretty features as she turned to look at him.

"I wanted to see how my raptors were doing." He puffed out his chest as he spoke, taking a step towards Ellis. She stood her ground and merely scoffed.

"They're not _your_ raptors." She corrected him cooly.

"Actually sweetheart, they are, I own them, and therefore they're mine."

"If anything they're Wu's and even that is a stretch. And don't call me sweetheart."

"Listen here Grant, this attitude you have," He waved his hand in her general direction "was cute at first, and it might fly with Grady but I will not stand for it any longer. Now stop teaching my raptors party tricks and do your actual job, or so help me god I'll have you thrown off this island and-"

The attack came suddenly, the velociraptors charged, covering the ten yards between them and the fence with an astonishing speed. All Ellis was able to make out was the blur of three powerful, six foot tall figures, claws and teeth. Snarling as they rushed forward, Charlie, Delta and Echo one by one leapt high into the air. Raising their muscled hind legs - each one ending in a deadly curved claw -they struck the bars of the cage in front of them at full force, causing the entire structure to shudder violently. They recoiled from the bars hissing loudly, a much more menacing picture than the obedient dinosaurs they had been only moments previous. Sweat dripped down Hoskins' forehead and he glanced warily at Ellis who smirked.

Infuriated by the way she looked at him he took a step towards the cage and raised a finger, with the intention of displaying a show of force. "You're mine, do you hear me. Mine. You do as I say. Now _stand down."_ He spat. Only then did Blue emerge from the foliage she had concealed herself in, charging at the bars at full speed and striking at chest level. Hoskins screamed and fell backwards, Ellie didn't flinch. The whole attack lasted no more than five or six seconds and whilst Ellis thought the raptors speed to be astonishing, Hoskins – although he wouldn't admit to it – had been truly terrified, and was thanking every god he could think of for the strength of the bars that separated him from the animals.

"You were saying?" Ellis asked, with a smirk.

"Ellis?!" The voice of Owen could be heard as he came hurtling down the metal staircase towards them, taking two, three steps at a time before crashing to a halt beside Ellis. He placed a hand on either one of her shoulders and turned her to face him, inspecting her for any signs of injury. "Are you alright?" He questioned, a frantic look of worry ghosting across his handsome features.

"I'm fine Owen." She assured him with a small smile, wriggling to release herself from his vice like grip.

Owen's brow furrowed in concern and he looked her over once more, "Are you sure? The sensors went off like crazy, did they attack you?"

"No not me." Ellis breathed, unable to hide the smug tone that laced her honeyed tenors. She gestured towards Hoskins who still stared blankly at the bars.

Owen chuckled, running his forearm across his brow, removing the droplets of sweat that had settled there in his dash down the stairs. "I'd say that deserves extra birthday treats." He mused and Ellis laughed, nodding enthusiastically.

It was only then, with the pair of them laughing at his expense did Hoskins turn to face them. His round face was red, a mixture of embarrassment and anger, and his heavy eyebrows were knitted tightly together forming wrinkles across his tan forehead.

"You two think you're so high and mighty because you can get these animals to do a couple of simple tricks?!" He challenged, Owen and Ellis exchanged a glance but otherwise remained silent.

"You're easily replaced, and so are they, Wu can cook up a new batch in under a month and your precious raptors will be nothing more than rex food." Owen tensed up, his hands balling into fists at either side of him.

"I think you should leave." Ellie said pointedly, arching an eyebrow and folding her arms across her chest.

Hoskins breathed heavily through his nose, his glaring eyes flickering between the pair of trainers. "I'll be back, and believe you me these animals will not be under your control for much longer." With that he stomped away, keeping a wary eye on the bars of the cage as he walked alongside it, anticipating another attack at any moment.

"What the hell was that?" Owen breathed out, visibly relaxing with Hoskins out of the picture.

"Oh you know, just Hoskins being his usual pleasant self." Ellis muttered sarcastically in reply, bending down to pick up the bucket of dead rats she'd brought down with her ten or so minutes ago. "I swear to god if he comes near me or the girls again I'll stick my boot so far up his ass he'll be spitting shoelaces for weeks."

Owen laughed, following after her back towards the main area of the compound; he looped a lazy arm around her shoulders as they walked. "I love it when you fight talk Elle I really do." She glanced towards him and frowned, knowing he was about to make some sort of joke at her expense. "It's just you're so tiny, like an itty bitty tiny raging hamster. It's adorable."

Ellis nudged him hard in the ribs and he groaned, "I could kick your ass with my eyes closed Grady don't test me."

As they neared the main area of the compound Barry stepped out of the office and beckoned them over. "Hey Grant there's someone here for you!"

"For me?" Ellis yelled back, a look of confusion flashing upon her features. She glanced towards Owen and raised her eyebrows in questioning, he merely shrugged in response.

"Yeah some tech guy, just get over here."

By the time Owen and Ellis reached the small make shift office – it was an old storage container that had been renovated and supplied with electricity so they could run computers – the visitor had stepped out. His pasty white skin was a stark contrast to Barry's dark and he stood awkwardly, shielding his eyes from the blazing midday sun. At the sight of him Ellis blushed and immediately shrugged Owen's arm from around her shoulders, her made some effort to complain but she ignored him.

"Fancy seeing you in broad daylight." She teased, tucking her hands into the front pockets of her jean shorts as she closed the final distance between her and her visitor.

Lowery Cruthers laughed, taking off his glasses momentarily to give them a quick clean before returning them to his face and grinning at Ellis. "I know it's like…really bright out here, and hot."

"That's because there's this thing Lowery, it's a big ball of fire in the sky, we call it the sun." Owen pipped up and Ellis' head snapped to the side to glare at him.

"Goodbye Owen." It was more warning than anything else and Owen didn't need to be told twice. With a roll of his oceanic orbs he gestured to Lowery that he had his eyes on him.

"Have the missus home by five, someone's gotta feed the damn kids." He called out as he and Barry disappeared back into the office.

Lowery rolled onto the heels of his feet, shifting his gaze around as he did so. He'd never been to one of the paddocks before, and if he was entirely honest it was a lot less breathtaking than he had expected to be. It was messy and loud and there was a lingering smell of rotten flesh that made the inside of his nostrils sting – these were all things Ellis had long since grown accustomed to.

"So…" Ellis began with a breezy smile. "Did you need something?" She hadn't meant for it to sound so dismissive, and she was actually really pleased to see him, it showed in the blush that peppered her tan cheeks.

"Actually yeah, Claire needs you."

 **AUTHORS NOTE:** **Not much to say about this chapter really, just setting the scene for Ellis and Owen not trusting Hoskins & Hoskins generally being a dick. We're catching up to the beginning of the movie by this point. Probably a week or two prior to the events in Jurassic World. **


	6. Chapter 6

In the months she'd been on the island, Ellis and Claire had never really seen eye to eye, though they had recently learnt to tolerate one another and outbursts between the pair were a lot less frequent these days. Despite this, they were not remotely close and Ellis knew that Claire Dearing would not come to her for help unless it was absolutely necessary. Though that didn't make her any less sceptical about Claire's reasoning for summoning her.

"What could Claire _possibly_ need _me_ for?" She questioned, following after Lowery who had already set off towards the gas jeep he'd arrived in.

A small smile caused the corners of Lowery's lips to turn upwards when he picked up on Ellis' sarcastic tone and he shrugged. "She needs you to have a look at paddock eleven."

Ellis stopped in her tracks, a look of confusion ghosting across her features. Lowery stopped too, raising an eyebrow. "We don't have a paddock eleven." Ellis replied slowly frowning when Lowery smirked again, he obviously knew something she didn't, and she hated that. "Do we?"

"We do."

Ellis' mouth fell open in shock and Lowery laughed softly. She was silent for all of two seconds before shoving him gently and shaking her head. "As if they told you and not me, so what kind of dinosaur lives in paddock eleven then?"

"Uh, that was uncalled for contrary to popular belief I am actually a highly valued member of the team." Ellis rolled her dark eyes and Lowery continued "But I don't know what's in there exactly. All I know is Claire needs you to take a look at the paddock make sure its dinosaur friendly you know the usual stuff."

"Yeah alright, would've been nice to get a heads up on a new species though." Ellie mumbled irritably, she'd been here nine whole months and hadn't had a chance to get into one single lab. The entire process of de-extinction still astonished her and she'd do just about anything to get five minutes alone with Dr Wu's research notes – but apparently they were classified and held under lock and key 24/7, she'd checked.

"Lowery?"

"Mmhmm?"

"Why did you come down here? I've got a radio; you didn't have to drive all the way out here…" Her voice trailed off and glancing momentarily at her feet she pushed a flyaway piece of hair from her face.

"Oh…" Lowery scratched the back of his head as he walked around the bonnet of the car, pulling open the driver's side door and climbing in. Ellis pulled open the passenger door, waiting for an answer before climbing in herself. "I felt like getting some sun." She folded her arms across her chest, clearly not satisfied with his answer. "You're right, I hate the sun."

"So…"

"I guess I just wanted to see you, is that alright?" He watched her carefully, awaiting her response, biting down on his bottom lip gently in anticipation.

A smile caused the corners of Ellis' blossom pink lips to curve upwards and she climbed into the van alongside him, keeping her gaze straight ahead out of the windscreen she shrugged in a sort of nonchalant kind of way. "Yeah that's alright." Lowery, who hadn't shifted his gaze from her since he'd first seen her a couple of minutes ago laughed and turned the key in the ignition.

The rest of the journey was relatively quiet, the pair of them stealing glances at the other when they didn't think they were looking, and the only sound coming from the quiet hum of the engine and the tyres against the gravel road outside. They had been like this for some weeks, ever since they'd ended up alone at one of the resorts many cocktail bars, Owen and Vivian were meant to have been there two, but conveniently something had come up for both of them last minute. Lowery and Ellis had talked all night and she'd slept in his bed – whilst he took the couch – because he had refused to let her drive back to her bungalow. The next morning Ellis had to be up and out early in order to feed the raptors and had left before Lowery even woke, but not before writing him a quick note and sticking it to his fridge.

Ellis saw paddock eleven before they'd even properly reached it, unclipping her seatbelt she leant forward, placing her hands on the dashboard and staring open mouthed at the huge structure before them. The closer they got to it the bigger it seemed to get and she blinked furiously, honestly believing that the heat was getting to her head and she was seeing things. "My god." She breathed out, climbing out the jeep the moment it came to a halt and not bothering to close the door behind her. Lowery exited the vehicle in a much calmer fashion, walking around the back of it to close Ellis' door after her before returning to her side, their shoulders almost touching. "What the hell have they got in there? King Kong?" She uttered in disbelief, Lowery laughed softly.

"More like Godzilla."

Claire Dearing appeared out of nowhere in the way that only she could, her clothes were pristinely clean and neatly pressed with not a crease or wrinkle in sight, a far cry from Ellis' jean shorts, boots and plaid shirt. Despite the humid air and ungodly heat Claire's hair was straight and frame her face perfectly, Ellis wondered briefly what hair product she used and made a mental note to find out one day because the Isla Nublar humidity wasn't doing her own hair any favours.

"Ellis." Claire greeted with mock enthusiasm "I'm glad you could make it."

"Yeah not a problem."

"There's just a few things, I need you to take a look at the asset, tell me if you think the paddock is acceptable, any ideas you might have about containment or behaviour, that sort of thing."

Ellis nodded in understanding. "Let's see this thing then."

Claire smiled wide and turned on her expensive looking heel and heading towards the concrete structure. She lead them up a metal staircase which went up at least two flights, the stairs creaked under their feet and Ellis hoped silently that the rest of the paddock was sturdier than the staircase. When they reached a door Claire eyed Ellis and Lowery warily before blocking it from view with her body and punching in a passcode to allow them entry. Ellis rolled her eyes and had to physically refrain herself from groaning at Claire's theatrics.

The room they entered was underwhelming to say the least, it was a lot smaller than Ellis had anticipated and it showed in her expression. Claire explained that this was the control room for the paddock and that a viewing area would be built before the attraction opened to the public in May. On the far side of the room an overweight guard sat lazily in his revolving chair, eating from a bag of chips and pretending to study the monitors that surrounded him. The far wall was made entirely of glass and a small man, a maintenance worker Ellis thought, was taking measurements of the glass with a tape measure.

"So…Ellis." Claire spoke aloud, Ellis turned to look at her, as did the small maintenance worker.

"Miss Dearing?" He questioned and Claire frowned.

"Yes?"

"You said my name." He explained, Lowery laughed and Ellis narrowed her eyes – she'd always been teased that her name was typically one given to boys, but she'd yet to meet a boy with her name, until now.

"Oh." Claire replied, her blue eyes wide with confusion. She quickly composed herself however and a hint of a smirk flourished upon her full lips – she'd always known it was a damn boy's name. "I was actually talking to Miss Grant, but thank you Ellis. You can uh…go for your lunch now." The worker smiled a smile which caused faint wrinkles to form around the corners of his eyes, and nodded before taking his leave.

"Well that wasn't weird at all." Lowery thought aloud, earning himself a stern look from the women either side of him. His gaze flickered from Ellis to Claire, blinking slowly before he spoke again. "Oh is that a computer? I love computers, I'm going to go and look at that computer." He spoke fast and Claire nodded.

"You do that."

There was an awkward moments silence between the girls and Ellis used it to step towards the glass. Narrowing her eyes she peered through the dense foliage, trying her very best to seek out the new dinosaur despite having no idea what it was she was looking for. "So what've we got in here? T-Rex?" It was pure guesswork, based loosely on the height of the concrete walls that enclosed the animal in the paddock, that and the thick glass that could more than likely stop a fifty calibre bullet should it need to.

"Bigger." Claire stated proudly, moving to stand next to Ellis at the viewing window, Ellis glanced sideways at her before looking out at the paddock once more.

"Spinosaurus?" She guessed again but Claire simply shook her head.

"No."

"Well what the hell have you got in there then?"

Claire cleared her throat before saying a line she had clearly rehearsed more than once. "Verizon Wireless presents, the Indominus Rex."

Ellis turned to face Claire fully, her shaped eyebrows knitted together in a frown. "That's not a thing." She stated simply.

"Well actually—"

"No Claire, there has literally never been a dinosaur with that name." Ellis interjected.

"That's because the Indominus has never existed before, gene splicing has come on in leaps and bounds since it was first discovered and Indominus is proof of that. She's Jurassic World's first hybrid."

A sound that could only be described as one of sheer disbelief fell from Ellis' lips and her frown grew deeper. "You're kidding."

Perfectly on time the paddock came to life, Ellis could hear branches cracking beneath the weight of an animal she still couldn't see, the canopy moved at the dinosaur within it did and Ellis held her breath as she took a step closer, desperate to get a look.

"Nick." Claire addressed the guard who was sat at the computer Lowery was now flicking aimlessly through. "Would you drop a crane, coax her out?"

Nick nodded, hastily licking the cheese powder from his chubby fingers before punching in a few keys on the computer. Almost immediately a crane appeared, lowering down what appeared to be half a cow carcass into the paddock about fifty feed from the window. Everyone in the room was silent as they watched the crane, expecting the animal to reveal itself at any moment and rip the carcass from the hook it hung on, but it never did. Ellis stepped impossibly closer to the glass, practically pressing her nose against it as she squinted into the distance. That was when she caught sight of the animal, twice the size she had imagined it would be, it's eyes alone were probably the size of her head and they were staring directly at her. It's head had to be at least twenty feet above the ground and Ellis could only guess that it was over double that in length, bigger than any t-rex she'd ever seen or dug up. Through the foliage she could make out osteoderms that ran along the length of the animal, and horn like structures that surrounded its eye orbits, similar to the Abelisaurus, but on a scale she had never believed to be possible. Unlike the T-Rex the Indominus had large, muscled forearms which as well as being equipped with opposable thumbs – which Ellis found to be truly astonishing – also ended in a disturbingly large sickle like claw. Her blood ran cold at the sight of the dinosaur and if she was completely honest Ellis really couldn't fathom a reason for Jurassic World to have created such a truly terrifying dinosaur.

Lowery had appeared beside her without her realising and when he spoke Ellis jumped. "Holy shit, remind me to never leave the control room again." He breathed, removing his glasses and wiping them clean on his shirt before placing them on his face once more and staring open mouthed out into the paddock. Ellis nodded slowly before eventually turning to Claire who looked altogether bored with the entire situation.

"What's it made of?" Ellis asked.

"That information is strictly need to know, and you…don't need to know."

"Well actually," Ellis began, turning away from the window and folding her arms defiantly across her chest "If you want me to assess this paddock, and the behaviour of this animal then I'm going to have to know what I'm dealing with. What its temperament is likely to be, how strong it is, it's actually kind of crucial that I know exactly what species this thing is made up of." She wasn't entirely sure if Claire was being purposely difficult or if the woman, who prided herself on organization and the smooth running of the park, actually knew just as little as Ellis did.

"Like I said—"

"Uh guys." Lowery interrupted, tapping Ellis on the shoulder and pointing out of the window into the paddock.

Ellis watched the Indominus Rex through wide eyes. The animal's large forearm gently, slowly, pushed aside a branch, it's eyes never once shifting from the window, and the people on the other side of it. A chill ran down Ellis' spine and she thought, _She's hunting us._ She'd spent enough time around the velociraptors to know hunting behaviour when she saw it and that was exactly what she saw right now. The stillness and coldness of the Indominus Rex felt all wrong, and Ellis instinctively took a few steps back from the window, pulling Lowery away with her.

The attack was quick, clean and precise. The Indominus Rex emerged from the foliage in a blur of claws and teeth and charged the full length glass window. The first blow caused the room to vibrate, but otherwise did little else. Lowery and Ellis exchanged a wild look before turning their attention to the window once more, Claire backed slowly towards the door and Nick the security guard dropped the sandwich he'd been eating on the ground. The dinosaur was not deterred, picking up on the racing heartbeats of it's prey it changed its tactic, raising one muscled forelimb it crashed it's claw against the glass. Inside the sound of cracking glass was enough to caused Claire Dearing's already pale skin to drain of all colour completely, she whimpered and Lowery cursed under his breath.

"Everyone out. Now." Ellis ordered, adrenaline coursing through her veins and her heart beating loudly in her chest. The others didn't need to be told more than once and within seconds they had all vacated the room.

Outside workers were running around, scrambling for tranquilizer guns and shouting about a containment breach.

"Claire." Ellis addressed the red head without looking at her. "I think it goes without saying that I'm not clearing this paddock for the public…and if I were you, I'd build those walls up higher. Forty feet at the very least."

Claire nodded but didn't say a word, still shaken by the entire ordeal.

 **AUTHORS NOTE: THE INDOMINUS REX ! Okay so this is the final chapter before we jump into actual movie time, I wanted to explain the cracked glass that we see in the movie and thought this would be the best way to go about it. If you've got the time please leave a review, or if you have any questions you can find me on my personal tumblr (lydamartin) or the new tumblr I created for Insatiable which is (JurassicInsatiable) Hope you enjoyed this guys.**


	7. Chapter 7

A week passed, during which Ellis visited the Indominus enclosure only once to advise the construction workers about just how high they should be building up the walls – they finally settled on around forty feet, just to be safe. Whilst there Ellie made no effort to gain entry into the control room, there was something about the Indominus Rex that put her on edge, the way it watched her through the foliage, its eyes cold and calculating, just the thought of seeing it again made the hairs on her arms stand on end. Ellis had been told under strict instruction that she was not to speak of the hybrid to anyone, not even Owen, and though he did not question her, he knew she was keeping something from him. He'd noticed the change in her attitude straight away, the evening when she'd returned from Paddock Eleven, she was quiet whilst she took small sips from her beer bottle and she didn't roll her chocolate orbs once when he teased her about Lowery. Owen was concerned to say the very least, but he knew she'd talk to him when she was ready, and so he didn't ask. For a few days Ellis was distant, heading down to the raptor paddock to feed the girls, then heading straight home, she barely socialised and she did next to no research. It wasn't fear that caused her to act this way, she wasn't scared of the Indominus or any of the other dinosaurs in the park, it was anger. Ellis was angry that everything her father had told her about InGen was true, how they didn't truly care for science or the animals they created. InGen was a corporation, and it was clear to Ellis now that all they cared about was profits. It infuriated her that she had ever believed anything else; that she thought her work at the park was bettering the world and not some business man's bank balance.

A knock on the door of her bungalow was what roused Ellis from her sleep, it was 6am - pretty late for her actually – and when she dragged the door open, her hair still a mess from the humidity of the night before, wearing nothing but her father's old plaid shirt, she was greeted with the grinning face of Owen Grady who leaned lazily against the wooden doorframe. "Gooood morning." He greeted, handing her a coffee as he did so before taking a sip of his own. Ellis couldn't help but smile and stepped aside to allow him into her humble home.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" She breathed out, running a hand through her tousled mane and taking a sip of her coffee, black just how she liked it.

"There's no bespectacled computer nerds in here that I should know about is there?" Owen teased, his cerulean eyes darting around the obviously empty room before settling upon Ellis once again, he smirked when she blushed and laughed when she hurled a cushion in his direction. "Hoskins is coming to the paddock today; wants to see the girls in action. Something about InGen research…"

"I don't trust him" Ellie muttered bitterly holding her coffee close to her face, relishing in the warmth it radiated onto her skin.

"Neither do I." Owen agreed, giving a slight shrug before continuing. "But he signs the paycheques every month so I play along, now when was the last time you showered." He kinked an eyebrow and the corner of his lips curved up in a hint of a smirk that caused his blue eyes to glint mischievously.

"Oh fuck you."

"Well if you're offering."

Ellis scoffed and headed towards the bathroom, "You'd be so lucky Grady, I'll meet you at the paddock in fifteen minutes."

True to her word, fifteen minutes later Ellis pulled up to the raptor paddock in the old jeep wrangler she'd been loaned by the park. It was another of the old vehicles salvaged from the original park, and Ellis had fallen in love with it the moment she'd seen it – having always wanted one of her own since she was a child. She stepped out of her 'baby', as she so affectionately called it, and didn't bother to remove the keys from the ignition, the men who worked at the raptor paddock knew better than to test Ellis Grant. By the time she'd climbed up to the platform that ran over the top of the paddock the rest of her colleagues were already ready and waiting. Walking up behind Barry, Ellis rapped her arms around him and hugged him sleepily, he instinctively slung a muscled arm loosely around her slender shoulders and laughed, wishing her a good morning in his silky French accent which Ellis found to be truly beautiful to listen to.

"Hoskins is over there." Barry muttered, nodding towards the overweight man who leant casually against the railings on the other side of the platform. Ellis uttered a sound of disgust and lolled her head against Barry's chest, a frown set on her features when Hoskins waved at her.

"I really hate that man."

"Don't we all chère?" Barry replied with another low laugh. Shifting his dark eyes from Hoskins to Ellis he now nodded down towards the paddock. "Are you doing the drill today?" Ellis shook her head.

"No, no. Let Owen do it, after all he is the _alpha._ " A smirk caused the corners of her blossom pink lips to curve upwards and her eyebrows rose ever so slightly. Barry laughed again. Owen had quite recently taken to calling himself the alpha or leader of his self-proclaimed raptor squad, the rest of the men and women working at the paddock allowed him to do so purely for their own amusement – Ellis knew that no man could ever really wish to control the velociraptors, though between herself and Owen they'd done a pretty good job at doing just that for the past nine months.

The drill Owen performed was one himself and Ellis had done on numerous occasions, first the velociraptors would be drawn into the enclosed viewing area of the paddock, usually a pig or other small mammal would be set loose in order to lure the four raptors back into the confined area. Once within the walls the handlers were more able to get a good look at the girls, check them over for signs of any illness or infection as well as putting them through their paces – which was the job assigned to Ellis and Owen.

In the distance the squeals of a piglet could be heard, growing louder as the small animal hurtled towards the safety of the confined enclosure. Behind it four fully grown velociraptors followed, their large clawed feet crashing against the dirt ground with each step forwards. The piglet arrived first, running straight through an open gate and to safety, Ellis released herself from Barry's grip and leaned against the railings before her, raising an eyebrow - she hadn't expected the piglet to make it back alive. Next came the girls, headed by Blue the other three velociraptors ran with their heads bowed low giving them a more streamlined effect, allowing them to run faster. They stopped only when Owen told them to.

"Hold!" He bellowed, holding his hand up and locking eye contact with Blue who stood slightly forwards from her siblings. The dinosaurs obediently did as they were told, shifting their weight from one large hind leg to the other and staring intently up at Owen above them. Charlie's tail swayed absently behind her, occasionally smacking into Echo's face who responded with a low growl and a snap of her jaws as a warning to her sister. "Hey!" Owen shouted, frowning at the bickering siblings until they got back into formation. Never once taking his eyes from the dinosaurs below him he pressed the clicker in his hand twice. "Okay…eyes on me."

Below him Blue did her own thing, sniffing at the air around her for any sign of where the piglet she had just been chasing had disappeared to, her teeth bared and clawed toe tapping menacingly against the ground. "Blue!" Owen called her name and after a few moments the velociraptor looked up at her handler. Ellis leant further over the bars, watching the beta intently – she'd been known to defy Owen every once in a while, and today looked like it was going to be one of those days. "Watch it." Her handler threatened and Ellis laughed quietly as Owen pointed towards the dinosaur. With their alpha distracted by Blue, Charlie's tail once again smashed into the side of Echo's head, Ellis couldn't help but laugh, they truly were just like naughty children. "Charlie, don't give me that shit." Owen muttered and after a few moments of chaos all four velociraptors finally did as they were told.

"Good…and…we're moving." Owen sidestepped along the platform as to not tear his gaze from the predators beneath him, the rest of the crew and handlers watched with baited breath. Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo diligently followed Owen's movements and travelled from one side of the paddock to the other. A beaming smile illuminated Ellis' features and Barry grinned beside her, they exchanged a quick excited glance before turning their attention to Owen once more. He praised the animals beneath him for their good work, throwing each one a dead rat. He made a point of feeding Blue last, symbolically putting her back in her place and establishing his own position as the alpha of the pack. "Go." He finally shouted, signalling with his hand that the animals were free to leave, and they did so immediately.

For a second everyone was quiet, and in the moments silence Ellis had pushed off the barriers and ran along the metal pathway towards Owen, grinning the entire way. He chuckled, holding his arms out open for her as she flung her own around him in a bone crushing hug. "That was amazing Owen!" She congratulated, pulling away as Barry walked over, the two men high fived one another, and hugged in a typically manly way before stepping apart and grinning. Behind them the rest of the crew cheered, shook hands and fist pumped the air – it truly had been a successful drill, probably the most successful one they'd ever done.

"You finally did it man." Barry beamed and Ellis nodded in agreement.

"Owen!" Hoskins' interrupted the trio and immediately all three of them rolled their eyes, turning to face the elder man who sauntered towards them with a smug smile that made Ellis want to punch him in the face. "I was starting to think I hired the wrong guys…" Hoskins glanced towards Ellis before redirecting his gaze to Owen once more; Ellis scowled and folded her arms across her chest. "…but damn you got them eating out of your palm."

"You came on a good day." Ellis muttered and Owen nodded beside her.

"It's not usually a happy ending." He added, holding his hand out towards Hoskins who shook it vigorously.

"Is that why you're not sending in your reports?" Hoskins' question was directed not only to Owen but to Barry and Ellis who stood either side of him as well. The three handlers exchanged a quick glance before Barry spoke.

"We've been busy." He replied, leaning against the metal barriers and watching Hoskins carefully.

"Not too busy to cash your paycheques." Hoskins joked, doing some sort of movement that Ellis could only assume was supposed to be one that signified friendship and comradery, but that actually just looked extremely awkward. Barry raised an eyebrow but didn't respond any further than that. Ellis pursed her lips and Owen looked at Hoskins through scrutinizing eyes.

"Err…what do you need buddy?" He finally asked.

Hoskins' tongue ran along his bottom lip and he placed his hands on his hips before speaking. "A field test."

Ellis' eyes rolled nearly 180° into the back of her head and she laughed in disbelief, glancing at Barry who shook his head. Owen simply turned his back to Hoskins without a word and walked away. "Unbelievable." Ellis muttered under her breath, turning to walk after Owen after handing a clipboard of statistics to Barry who headed off in the opposite direction to go over them with one of the analysts.

"Hey," Hoskins called out, quickening his pace to catch up with Ellis and Owen as they walked away from him muttering a few choice expletives under their breath. "I've just seen that they can respond to commands. We need to take the research and get it on its feet."

"They're wild animals Hoskins." Ellis said as she walked alongside Owen.

"Trust me you don't want them in the field." Owen added glancing over his shoulder towards Hoskins before turning away once more.

"I just saw a bond, a real bond between man and beast." Hoskins pushed past Ellis to stand in front of the pair, blocking their path and forcing them to listen to what he had to say. She sighed heavily and kinked an eyebrow, Owen's jaw tightened but otherwise he remained unaffected.

"You're in our way." He stated calmly, Hoskins breathed loudly through his nose, desperate to try and get the pair to see things from his point of view.

"Come on." He breathed out "We're the same we're dogs of war."

Ellis scoffed "Speak for yourself." Hoskins spared her a sideways glance before turning his attention back to Owen once more.

"We know that the military needs to reduce casualties, some people think that robots are the future…"

"I've heard enough." Ellie muttered, pushing past Hoskins once more and walking away, Owen watched her walk before following after her a moment later.

"Look" Hoskins spoke again and Ellis had to physically refrain herself from lunging at him by grabbing tightly onto the metal railings beside her. "Nature gave us the most effective killing machines seventy five million years ago"

"Sixty five million years ago." Ellis corrected earning herself a glare from Hoskins.

"…and now we know they can take orders."

"We finally make progress with the girls and that's the first thing you think about?" Ellis questioned, snapping her head to the side to glare at the heavy set man. "Make a weapon?"

Obviously irritated by her mere presence Hoskins turned away, muttering curse words under his breath and running a hand through his greying hair. "Come on…gents." He looked towards Owen who had been joined by Barry once more. "It's grown up time." Hoskins added, offering Ellis a condescending smile. She moved quickly, ready to lunge for him but was held back by Barry who wrapped a strong arm around her torso and held her close to him, fighting off her attempts to free herself.

"Drones can't search tunnels and caves and they're hackable. The minute a real war breaks out all that fancy tech is gonna go dark."

"Yeah but that tech's not going to eat them if they forget to feed it." Owen responded sarcastically and Ellis smirked, thankful that someone else saw the stupidity in what it was Hoskins was trying to propose.

"Look at these creatures." Hoskins gestured towards the raptors who stood in the paddock beneath their feet. "They have millions of years of instinct in their cells, instincts that we can programme. Their loyalty cannot be bought. These guys are gonna run straight into the enemies teeth and eat them, belt buckle and all."

Barry, who still held onto a wriggling Ellis tightly piped up, "What they if they decide that they want to be in control?" He asked. Hoskins was quiet for a moment before coming out with what he deemed to be a reasonable answer.

"Then we remind them who is, we terminate the rogues. Promote only loyal bloodlines." Having heard enough Barry laughed, released Ellis and walked away, his low chuckle hanging in the air making Hoskins look from Ellis to Owen in confusion.

"What?" Ellis scoffed and Owen whistled quietly as he shook his head. "What's so funny?" Hoskins questioned again.

Owen leaned against the railings and looked down at the velociraptors below him. "You come here and you don't learn anything about these animals except what you want to know. You made them and now you think you own them."

"We do own them, extinct animals have no rights."

"They're not extinct anymore Hoskins." Ellis interjected as she made her way down the metal staircase after Barry – having heard enough of Hoskins bullshit for one day.

"Exactly!" He agreed with her, causing her to stop where she was and turn to look a him. "We're sitting on a goldmine and Masrani is using it to stock a petting zoo."

"He's just trying to teach people some humility, he doesn't make weapons." Owen replied and for a second Ellis was about to nod in agreement, before she remembered the Indominus and how unnecessarily terrifying it was – had Hoskins got to Masrani and had the hybrid made on purpose? Pushing the thought aside she simply walked away from the two men, allowing them to fight it out between them.

Ellis was stood with Barry, going over figure charts and making notes in one of the many log books when shouts erupted around her, turning towards the paddock she raised an eyebrow watching as one of the younger workmen ran along the platform towards the centre of the paddock. "Pig loose!" He cried out as he went, carrying a long handled net as he ran. She wasn't tall enough to see what happened next, one moment the boy was there at the top of the paddock, the next was unmoving on the ground in the centre of the cage with four raptors surrounding him. Ellis' mouth fell open and she dropped the clipboard she'd been holding, running as fast as her legs would carry her towards the gate. Owen was already inside by the time she got there and he pressed the gate release button repeatedly willing the metal door to open quicker.

"Owen no!" She cried out, stopping when he held a hand towards her signalling her not to move any closer. Above them the guards withdrew their weapons, aiming them towards the raptors who edged closer and closer to the young worker with every passing second. He whimpered on the ground, scrambling backwards towards the gate that Owen had opened and walked through.

"Hold your fire!" Owen spoke clearly, banishing any fear from his voice, instead keeping it calm. He ran towards the raptors, using his own body as a barrier between him and the worker who by now had tears streaming down his face as she scrambled uselessly towards the gate where Ellis stood. "Hold your fire do not fire." He repeated but the guards continued to aim at the animals.

"If you put twelve amps in these animals they're never going to trust us again." Ellis called up, following Owen's lead and keeping her voice calm – the raptors could sense fear and both she and Owen knew it. Reluctantly the guards stood down, lowering their weapons and watching the scene below them unfold with a mixture of horror and intrigue. When he was close enough Ellis grabbed the worker who couldn't have been all that younger than she was and dragged him through the gate, he looked at her through wild damp eyes and she offered him a half smile before turning her attention back to Owen and the raptors who surrounded him.

Owen watched each dinosaur carefully, making sure to never look at one for much longer than a few seconds before moving to the next, knowing that a strike could come from any angle at any moment. Ellis watched in silent terror, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip and her heart beating loudly in her chest. "Come one Owen…" She whispered quietly.

"Ellis…close the gate." He called out, backing slowly, one foot at a time towards her, towards safety.

"Are you crazy?"

"Just trust me." He replied.

"Close the gate!" The worker urged Ellis from the floor, looking from her to Owen frantically – desperately wanting to put as much distance between himself and the raptors as he possibly could.

"Shit…" Ellis breathed out, before slamming her hand against the button that closed the gate.

The metal door moved painfully slowly, and the metallic rumble was the only sound that Ellis could hear as she watched Owen. He continued to back towards her, slowly, and the raptors followed, snapping at him but never attacking despite having a four against one advantage. Owen watched the velociraptors carefully before finally taking a chance and darting towards the gate, he dropped and rolled into safety just as the gate closed, the four raptors threw themselves against the metal bars and Ellis flinched, looking away momentarily before helping Owen to his feet. Once he was stood she threw her arms around him, she hadn't even realised she was crying until her tears dampened his shirt. When Owen finally pulled away he ran a thumb across her damp cheek and smiled "I'm okay." He assured her and she nodded, wiping her face with her hands and laughing at herself.

Turning towards the worker who sat in stunned silence on the ground Owen smiled. "You're the new guy right?"

"Yeah."

"You ever wonder why there was a job opening?" The younger male laughed nervously and glanced warily behind him where Delta stood baring her teeth and doing her very best to get at him through the bars.

"Don't ever turn your back to the cage." Ellis said, having composed herself once more.

Hoskins, who had watched the entire scene unfold, looked from Owen to Ellis and smiled the same smug smile from earlier, before nodding to himself and walking away.

"What an asshole." Ellis muttered, leaning into Owen who wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders.

"I think I need a beer." He mused and she laughed before nodding in agreement.

"We both do."

 **AUTHORS NOTE: Finally we're into the movie! Thanks for sticking around as long as you have. As usual if you have the time please leave a review, it helps to keep me motivated because otherwise I don't think anyone actually reads the crap I write haha! If you have any thoughts/questions you can find me on tumblr (jurassicinsatiable) or (lydamartin) come on over there and literally ask me anything. I'll probably be posting a few oneshots and headcanons on the insatiable blog so if you're hungry for more that's definitely the place to go! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


	8. Chapter 8

On the other side of the park Claire Dearing stepped into the control room, a smug smile fixed firmly upon her pretty features. She had just secured a deal with a group of investors, who were more than interested in putting money towards the Indominus-Rex, and they were even more thrilled to find that their investment was already complete for public viewing – or at least it would be after the contractors finished building Paddock Eleven to Ellis Grant's incredibly high standards. Sat in their usual seats were Lowery Cruthers and Vivian Krill, both of whom turned to face Claire the moment she entered the room.

"What's the live count?" Claire asked, taking a sip from the takeaway coffee cup she'd brought in with her, her gaze fixated firmly on the large screen that covered the entire far wall of the control room.

"Twenty two thousand, two sixteen." Vivian replied almost immediately, having turned back to her computer screen to retrieve the information.

"…Any incidents?" Claire continued, directing this question towards Lowery who in turn brought up his own statistics on the screen in front of him.

"Yeah, six kids in the lost and found uh…twenty eight down with heatstroke-"

"Where did you get that?" Claire interrupted him, a frown causing her shaped eyebrows to knit together. Her blue eyes flickered towards the shirt Lowery was wearing. He followed her gaze and glanced down at the 1993 Jurassic Park logo emblazoned on his chest before looking up proudly, a smile flashing upon his features.

"Oh this? I got it on ebay…yeah it's pretty amazing. I got it for a hundred and fifty dollars but the mint condition one goes for three hundred." Opposite him Vivian rubbed her fingers against her temples in exasperation and Claire's frown never once faltered.

"It didn't occur to you maybe that's in poor taste? I mean aren't you dating the daughter of one of the survivors?" Lowery's thick eyebrows shot up his forehead and he opened and closed his mouth numerous times before actually speaking.

"This shirt? Yeah, no it did. I understand that people died and it was terrible but, that first park was legit. Y-you know I have a lot of respect for it they didn't need these genetic hybrids, t-they just needed dinosaurs. Real dinosaurs…"

"Okay." Claire stopped him there, holding up a finger to silence him. Lowery pouted.

"…and me and Ellis aren't dating." He added quietly, Claire cast him a sideways glance and shook her head.

"Whatever, please don't wear it again."

"Yeah…I wasn't gonna."

After a few torturous moments of awkward silence, Vivian glanced over her shoulder in Claire's direction and smiled brightly. "Did you close the deal?"

"Looks like it." Claire replied. "Verizon Wireless presents the Indominus Rex." Once again the name and corporation rolled effortlessly off Claire's tongue, she had certainly practiced it once or twice.

Lowery dropped his head to his desk with a groan. "Ugh that is so terrible." He murmured, a small smile played on Vivian's lips at his words but Claire merely frowned at him once again. "Why not just go the distance Claire and let these corporations name the dinosaurs, they've got all the ball parks why stop there?"

Ignoring him, Claire turned her attention to the large screen in front of her which displayed all areas of the park, with live images of visitors and assets alike. "Why are the west plains closed?"

"Another Pachy roaming outside his zone, but he's fully sedated and ready for relocation." Vivian explained quickly.

"Security said the invisible fences were a no fail, that is the second time this month." Claire usually smooth voice was laced with irritation as she pointed an accusing finger towards the video feed of the Pachycephalosaurus lying unconscious on the ground, surrounded by guards and veterinarians alike.

"Well the Pachy's short out their implants when they butt heads…" Vivian's attempt to explain the situation was futile, and Claire merely cut her sentence short.

"How much longer until they get it out of there?"

"He just got five miligrams of carfentanil…"

"Yes he's _very_ stoned." Lowery added sarcastically. "So why don't we show a little sympathy?" Claire rolled her eyes and frowned at Lowery for what felt like the millionth time since she'd known him. "I mean you do understand that these are actual animals right?"

"Clean up your work space." Claire responded cooly. "It's chaotic."

Lowery turned to look at the dinosaur figurines the littered his desk, organized neatly now into herds by Ellis. He smiled at the small velociraptor figurine that stood apart from all the others, that one was special. It had been a gift.

"Anyway, I'm going to meet Masrani. Keep me updated on the Pac…Pach…whatever." Claire took another sip of her coffee before turning and walking out of the room, her heels clicking quietly against the hard floor as she walked. Vivian nodded as she left before turning towards Lowery and leaning towards him ever so slightly.

"Yet." She said knowingly.

"What?" Lowery asked, a look of genuine confusion flourishing upon his features.

"You and Ellis aren't dating _yet_." Lowery blushed and Vivian smiled, turning back towards her computer screen and punching in a few keys, bringing up the Velociraptor paddock just in time to catch Owen Grady finish up the drill with the raptors.

Claire's journey to Paddock Eleven was turbulent to say the least. Simon Masrani's skills as a helicopter pilot left a lot to be desired. Although they made it to Paddock Eleven in once piece, his co-pilot and instructor was reunited with whatever it was he'd had for breakfast that morning the moment the craft touched down on solid ground.

"Is he okay?" Claire called out to him. "Are you okay?"

"Oh he's just being dramatic." Simon Masrani brushed off the man's illness with a wave of his hand, walking towards the incredible feat of engineering that was the Indominus Rex's home. Sounds of machinery and the shouts of workmen filled the air, and Masrani frowned; he'd thought everything would have been finished by now. "Are you still building?"

"We planned to open in May but Miss Grant insisted we built the walls up higher. It's bigger than we expected."

"Ellis has been here?" Masrani asked, stopping where he was to get a good look at the structure. Work men and women littered the entire area, some soldering metal together, others pouring over schematics, making notes here and there. The CEO hadn't seen Ellis Grant since the day he dropped her off on his island, but he had read each and every one of her reports, and had made a conscious effort to keep a keen eye on the young girl. Claire glanced over her shoulder towards her superior and nodded slowly in answer to his question.

"Yes we got her in for behavioural analysis, and well…she had some containment suggestions." Masrani nodded, a beaming smile lighting up his weathered features.

"Excellent, very good. Well if it must be bigger then make it bigger. Spare no expense."

He followed after Claire as she walked towards the Paddock, following her up the metal staircase to the small control room that Ellis had visited a week previous. Claire hadn't returned since that afternoon with Ellis and Lowery and faltered for a moment at the door, the last time she'd been in that room a genetically modified prehistoric killing machine had done its very best to try to eat her, and so to say she was a little apprehensive about seeing the Indominus again was an understatement. Levelling out her breathing she closed her eyes momentarily before punching in the key code and pushing open the door, falling back into her business woman role effortlessly. "We hit a few speedbumps early on." She explained as she stepped into the room, Masrani followed diligently after her, heading straight towards the large viewing window which hadn't yet been repaired and still sported a rather impressive looking crack in the glass.

It didn't take Simon Masrani long to notice the crack in the glass, and though he feigned indifference he couldn't help but be a little worried. The dinosaur itself was truly a spectacle, something that wouldn't only strike fear into the hearts of the children that saw it, but the parents that stood alongside them as well. The Indominus Rex was a breath-taking specimen and the dinosaur loving child inside of Simon Masrani was practically doing backflips in excitement, the CEO in him was also feeling pretty smug too – they were going to make a fortune with this thing. Nevertheless security breaches were quite clearly still an issue and so he turned to Claire with a questioning look. "So…the paddock is quite safe then?"

"We have some of the best structural engineers in the world." She assured him, once again the words tumbling from her lips in an almost too perfect manner, yet another rehearsed line that had no doubt been said to countless others.

"Yeah, so did Hammond." Claire offered him a look but otherwise remained silent, choosing instead to occupy herself with one of the tablets that was mounted near to the viewing window – bringing up statistics and other analysis results. "There's an American navy man here…" Masrani continued. "Part of a research programme one of my companies is running, the same as Ellis Grant…his name is Owen Grady."

Claire resisted the urge to sigh and roll his eyes, instead she simply nodded. "I know who he is."

"Their animals often try to escape, they're smart. Owen and Ellis have to be smarter."

"Yeah well they think they're smarter." Claire muttered irritably under her breath, this time rolling her cerulean orbs and folding her arms across her chest.

Masrani ignored her comment and carried on, "I want you to bring them both back in, let them inspect the paddock."

"Grant is a behavioural specialist."

"Well maybe between them they see something we can't." Claire sighed heavily but otherwise agreed to Masrani's suggestion. Heading straight for where she knew Owen and Ellis would be the minute she was clear of Simon Masrani.

On a remote part of the island, completely off limits to visitors was a small collection of rustic looking bungalows, each one kitted out to its inhabitant's needs and preferences. It was here, in what Ellis had come to call 'The Village', that Owen Grady and Ellis Grant stood sipping quietly from their glass beer bottles, chatting to one another without a care in the world.

"Okay next letter…M." Ellis announced, taking another swig of beer before tipping the bottle towards Owen ever so slightly. "You go first." It was a game they'd invented a few months into knowing one another, one of them would chose a letter and then between them they had to name as many dinosaurs whose name began with that letter as they could, whoever couldn't think of one – lost the round.

"Easy, Mosasaurus!" Owen shot back smugly, calling out over his shoulder towards Ellis before going back to tinkering with his old motorcycle. Whilst Ellis loved her vintage jeep, this piece of machinery was Owen Grady's baby and he prided himself on his ability to look after and maintain it.

"Montanoceratops." Ellis replied after a brief moments thought. A look of confusion flourished upon Owen's handsome features and he turned himself fully to face her, he looked at her carefully watching the way she was sat so carelessly on the wooden steps of the bungalow before pointing a finger at her.

"Cheat, that's not a thing."

"Erm, excuse me? Yes it is." Ellis feigned offence. "The Montanoceratops happens to be my favourite dinosaur thank you very much. It was the first skeleton I saw as a kid."

Owen released an exasperated sigh and took a swig of his beer, relishing in the way the ice cold beverage immediately cooled him down in the hot Costa Rican sun. "You know what, playing this game against a palaeontologist just isn't fun."

Ellis was about to laugh when the brand new silver Mercedes pulled up, Claire Dearing behind the wheel. "Oh what do they want now?" Ellis muttered, placing her beer bottle down and standing up as Claire stepped out of the car. A small smirk caused the corners of Ellis' lips to curve upwards as she watched the redhead check her reflection in the blacked out window of the car before finally making her way towards the two handlers.

"Mr Grady, Miss Grant." Claire greeted politely, stopping somewhere between Ellis on the steps and Owen crouched down by his motorcycle. "I need you to come take a look at something."

"Why you calling me Mr Grady?" Owen questioned and Ellis laughed quietly, earning herself a stern glance from Claire who released a long breath before speaking again.

"Owen." Inside the bungalow the radio blasted the sounds of some sort of sporting match, and Ellis and Owen exchanged a quick glance. Owen raised his eyebrows at his colleague and Ellis merely shrugged in response, taking another swig of her beer before redirecting her attention to Claire once more. "If you're not too busy." Claire added, a hint of irritation lacing her otherwise honeyed tenors.

"I mean I don't know…we're pretty busy." Owen teased.

"We have an attraction." Claire stated simply causing Owen to almost spit out the mouthful of beer he'd just taken a sip of.

"That's not what you said the last time I saw ya." He replied, standing from his crouched position by the bike. Ellis scoffed into the back of her hand but quickly composed herself, she'd heard all about Claire and Owen's terrible date, in fact she lived to tease Owen relentlessly about it.

"I'm talking about the dinosaurs…Mr Grady."

"O-wen."

"A new species we've made." This grabbed Ellis' attention and she jumped down off the steps towards Claire, her chocolate orbs flickering towards Owen to see how he'd react.

"You just went and made a new dinosaur?" He asked disbelievingly. Claire glanced from him to Ellis before replying.

"Well…yes, didn't Ellis tell you?"

"Elle? You knew about this?"

"I was sworn to secrecy!" Ellis jumped to her own defence, sending a glare in Claire's direction – it was the red head who had warned Ellis not to tell a soul after all.

A smirk danced upon Claire's pointed features and she continued. "Anyway, the exhibit opens in three weeks and Mr Masrani wanted me to consult with you."

Any irritation Owen had felt about being left out of the loop was short lived and he was almost immediately back to his charming, if not a little skeezy self. "You want to consult here, or in my bungalow? Ellis can watch."

"That's not funny." Claire shook her head.

"It's a little funny." Ellis added with a laugh.

Claire sighed heavily, she'd come here with a job to do, a job that was being put off by these two imbeciles that acted even more like children when they were together than they did apart. "We'd like you to assess the paddock for vulnerabilities."

"Why us?" Ellis questioned, one shaped eyebrow rising ever so slightly.

"I guess Mr Masrani thinks that since you're able to control the raptors…"

"See it's all about control with you people, we don't control the raptors it's a relationship." Owen explained, re-emerging from the bungalow having disappeared inside to retrieve the specific wrench he needed for the bike. "It's based on mutual respect…that's why you and I never had a second date."

"Ooooh there it is." Ellis laughed, her mouth agape. She leant back against the railings of the wooden structure and watched the scene unfold excitedly.

"Excuse me I never wanted a second date!" Claire defended herself, her tone a mixture of irritation and offense.

"What kind of diet doesn't allow tequila?" Owen challenged and Claire rolled her blue eyes.

"All of them actually, and what kind of a man goes on a date when he is clearly involved with another woman?" Ellis coughed loudly, having practically choked on the liquid she'd just taken a sip of. She turned to face Owen with a frown – she didn't particularly like Claire but she was all for girl power and leading her on didn't fly with Ellis.

"What the hell Owen, who?" She demanded and frowned when Owen merely stared back at her, a blank expression on his face. Claire sighed at the top of the stairs, folding her arms across her chest and glaring at Ellis. "Wait, do you mean me?" Ellis questioned, a laugh falling from her blossom pink lips almost immediately after her words. "Oh man, wow…no…absolutely not, not even if the world was ending."

"Thank you." Owen muttered and Ellis offered him a grin in response.

"I'm uh...gonna go change my shirt, you guys…continue you this." Ellis grinned, dashing inside the bungalow before she could cause any further damage.

"Okay, okay. Can we just focus on the asset please." Claire muttered, somewhat perplexed as to how the three of them had gotten so unbelievably off topic.

"The asset?" Owen questioned incredulously, he'd always hated the way in which the staff at Jurassic World talked about the animals here – like they were products, rather than living breathing dinosaurs. He was about to roll into a speech about the animals, and how they themselves didn't know that they were cooked up in a lab, but was interrupted by Ellis who bounded out of the bungalow, now wearing a fresh plaid shirt.

"Ready to go?" She asked "Or are you two still having a lovers quarrel?"

"I thought you were going to change your shirt?" Claire muttered glancing sideways towards Ellis who simply raised an eyebrow.

"Oh she did." Owen laughed. "You see Ellis lives her life in various shades of plaid." She shoved him hard in the arm before heading towards the car Claire had arrived in.

"Whatever, I call shotgun."

 **A/N: Thank you SO MUCH for over 100 follows/favourites guys really that is so amazing and I am honestly a little blown away by it! Here's chapter eight, I'm sorry that there is so much talking but oh well what can you do. Action starts in chapter 9 so hang tight. If you wanna read/see more head over to my insatiable blog (jurassicinsatiable) or if you're looking for more great JW fics to read can I suggest heading to the raptor squad tumblr (the-raptor-squad-fanfictions) where there are so many great stories posted! As usual leave a review if you want to/have the time. Much loveeee x**


	9. Chapter 9

A hint of tension hung in the air for the entire car journey to paddock eleven. Ellis sat in the front passenger seat alongside Claire, her booted feet resting lazily on the dashboard – much to Claire's disgust – and Owen sat cramped into the back. It wasn't that the Mercedes-Benz GLE wasn't particularly roomy in the back, but Ellis had purposely pushed her chair as far back as it would go, limiting Owen and his six foot frame to a much too small space. As Claire shifted gears the car jolted in protest and though she didn't say anything – having probably irritated Claire enough for one day – she wondered whether the operations manager had actually learnt to drive in a stick shift or if she'd just been given this one and had to roll with it, either way the drive was most definitely not a smooth one. They spoke only once during the drive, when Lowery radioed in to tell Claire that a Pachycephalosaurus had been transported back to its zone. Claire thanked him professionally, whilst Owen leaned forward between the two front seats and asked what kind of underwear the technician was wearing. Ellis had never moved as fast as she had done when she'd clamped a hand over Owen's mouth and apologised profusely over the radio to Lowery who assured her it was quite alright, she could have sworn she heard him smiling at the sound of her voice over the frequency's but the moment was lost the second Owen's tongue darted out of his mouth and licked the palm of her hand to free himself from her grasp. Claire had sighed heavily, switched off the radio and rolled her cerulean orbs; unsure as to how these two children had managed to secure jobs with any degree of real responsibility.

The moment they pulled up at the paddock Ellis pushed open the passenger side door and stepped out, closing it behind her and shielding her eyes from the blazing Costa Rican sun. She regarded the newly built walls, made much higher to her specifications and a small smile danced on her blossom pink lips, a mixture of pride in that Claire had actually done something Ellis had told her to, and thankfulness because had those walls been any lower Ellis wasn't entirely sure she'd want to be anywhere near this paddock ever again.

"We've been pre-booking tickets for months," Claire began to explain, her words directed mainly towards Owen. "The park needs a new attraction every few years in order to reinvigorate the public's interest; it's kind of like the space programme. Corporate felt genetic modification would up the wow factor." Turning away from Ellis and Owen she headed towards the small paddock control room for the second time that day, taking the metal staircase one at a time, her hand sliding up the railing as she did so. Ellis gestured for Owen to go ahead of her and hung back ever so slightly as he followed after Claire up the staircase.

"They're dinosaurs, wow enough." He muttered in response to her corporate spiel, it was no secret that Owen Grady cared very little for the business side of the Jurassic World franchise.

"Not according to our focus groups." Claire shot back a reply and Ellis rolled her chocolate brown orbs. These focus groups were no doubt filled with over privileged types who could afford to come to Jurassic World at least a few times a year, she knew full well that those people who saved for the once in a life time trip to Isla Nublar would be perfectly thrilled with nothing more than a Procompsognathus which was no bigger than an oversized chicken, genetic modification really was, Ellis thought, entirely unnecessary. "The Indominus Rex makes us relevant again." Claire finished and Ellis smirked at the way Owen's shoulders shook in front of her as he attempted to supress a laugh.

"The Indominus Rex." He repeated, eventually releasing a low chuckle when he could no longer fight to contain it.

"We needed something scary and easy to pronounce, you should hear a four year old try to say Archaeornithomimus." The redhead stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to face Owen and Ellis, one perfectly shaped eyebrow raised as though silently challenging the two handlers to correct her. Owen simply laughed again and shook his head; Ellis popped her head around his broad shoulders and grinned at Claire.

"You should hear _you_ try to say it." She teased; the redhead chose to ignore her comment and turned to walk inside the control room.

Owen turned to face Ellis with a wry smile and wiggled his eyebrows at her, he'd always found the tension between the two women amusing, and his amusement only served to annoy Ellis further. She rolled her dark eyes at him and shoved him into the room after Claire. "Get in there Casanova, your lady waits." She joked and Owen simply laughed, tumbling into the room with much less grace than Claire had done only seconds previous. Stepping into the room Ellis was instantly reminded of the incident a week previous, a frown flourished upon her pretty features when she caught sight of the – still – cracked glass on the far side of the room, it was irresponsible that it hadn't yet been fixed she thought. On one side of the room the same guard, Nick, sat eating a sandwich as he monitored the screens that surrounded him, there was no sight of the workman with which Ellis shared a name but she didn't doubt that he was nearby.

"So what's this thing made of?" Owen broke the silence with the same question Ellis had asked a week previous. Ellis folded her arms across her chest and spun around to face Claire with a smirk.

"Yes Claire, do tell."

"The base genome is a T-Rex the rest…is classified." Ellis scoffed and Owen frowned, Claire kept her gaze set firmly out of the window and into the paddock.

"You made a new dinosaur but you don't even know what it is?" Owen asked incredulously, shaking her head ever so slightly and exchanging a quick disbelieving glance with Ellis.

"The lab delivers us finished assets and we show them to the public."

"Not caring if the animals are happy, healthy, and or dangerous" Ellis interjected, counting off the various traits on her fingers as she spoke before returning her arms to their previously folded position.

Claire sighed heavily "It's not in my job description to be as familiar with the assets as you are Ellis. Now can we drop a steer please?" Ellis bit her tongue as Claire once again referred to the animals as nothing more than assets and instead turned her attention out of the full length windows, watching as the crane ran along its metal cable and into the centre of the paddock.

"How long has the animal been in here?" Owen asked casually, hid blue eyes following the crane as it carried the carcass further into the paddock.

"All its life." Claire replied, her gaze never once shifting from the paddock.

"And you feed it with that?" He asked, pointing this time.

"Is there a problem?" The redhead enquired, turning from the window to face Owen.

"What he's trying to say is that animals raised in isolation aren't always the most…functional." Ellis piped up, glancing over her shoulder towards the others before looking out the window once more, shielding her eyes from the sun in an attempt to get a better look.

"Your raptors are born in captivity." Claire stated defensively, earning herself a small frown from Ellis.

"With siblings, they learn social skills." Ellie replied quickly, her tone laced with a hint of irritation.

"And I imprint on them when they're born. There's trust. The only positive relationship this animal has is with that crane, at least she knows that means food." Owen added.

"So…she needs a friend? We should schedule playdates that kind of thing?" Ellis rolled her eyes and Owen simply shook his head.

"Probably not a good idea."

The trio were silent for a long while, staring intently out of the window and into the foliage. Ellis knew what to expect and so took to looking at Owen, wanting to catch his reaction to the hybrid when it revealed itself. Except it never did. Owen stepped impossibly closer to the glass, his hands settled on his hips and his blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he attempted to see through the leaves and branches that blanketed the large paddock, when nothing happened Claire tapped irritably against the glass in a half-hearted attempt to coax the Indominus Rex out of hiding.

"Where is it?" She breathed out as she took a step away from the window.

"Yeah…is it in the basement? Is there a downstairs?" Owen's tones practically dripped with sarcasm and caused the corners of Ellis' lips to curve upwards into a small smirk. "Maybe it's in the rec room." He carried on. Beside the pair of them Claire shook her head repeatedly.

"It was just here, me and Mr Masrani were just here." She punched in a few keys on the tablet that stood by the window, Ellis made her way over just in time to see an error message flash up on the screen.

 ** _NO THERMAL SIGNATURES DETECTED._**

One by one the screens that surrounded Nick flashed up with the same error message, he turned in his spinning chair to look at them – confusion flourishing upon his features and matching Ellis' own.

"Oh shit." The technician breathed out. "That doesn't make any sense; these doors haven't been opened in weeks." Beside him Claire's blue eyes were wide, Ellis merely stood in a stunned silence.

Seemingly not worried by the warning signs and alarms that were going off all around the minute control room Owen ambled to the far side of the room, studying the walls of the paddock that had to be at least forty feet high. The walls themselves were covered in a number of distinctive markings, what looked to Owen to be claw marks, if the claws were the size of his arm. "Were those claw marks always there?" He asked casually, pointing out of the window. Ellis turned on her heel, making for Owen before she even really knew what she was doing, Claire not far behind.

"Do you think it…" The red head whispered, her voice cracking ever so slightly as she spoke.

"Oh my god." Ellis breathed out, her chocolate brown eyes wide – part of her wasn't even surprised, the Indominus had been excessively large in her opinion, the other part of her was mentally losing her mind, furious that her father's predictions about Jurassic World were seemingly all coming true.

"She has an implant in her back; I can track it from the control room!" Suddenly Claire was a flurry of limbs and wild eyes, and just as quickly as she had spoken she was gone, down the metal staircase and into the Mercedes-Benz she'd arrived in.

Ellis stared at the open door in silence for a second before turning back to Owen. "We need to get inside that paddock. Figure out how the hell she escaped." He nodded slowly, glancing past Ellis towards Nick who was stood staring at the pair of them. Owen raised an eyebrow and for a moment Nick was unresponsive. "Nick?" Ellis asked quietly and he shook his head quickly, bringing himself back to the present.

"Get in the paddock? Yeah sure, okay I can do that."

"Okay then, I guess we're going in…lead the way Nicholas." Ellis gestured towards the door with her hand and within a few seconds Nick had kicked himself into gear, retrieving his hardhat from its hook and placing it on his head before trotting out the door. Owen followed behind him with Ellis not far after. The trio marched down the metal staircase in an almost military like fashion and stony expressions to match, stopping only when Ellis' phone rang loudly in her back pocket. The tone was one that sounded completely out of place blasting out of her iPhone 6, it was almost primitive sounding, and something that would have been more at home on an old Nokia, Owen raised an eyebrow towards Ellis at the sound of it. She smiled meekly, the tone was the jingle for Kirby Paint and Tile Plus, and one which she had only set as her ringtone to irritate her father, and she hadn't changed it since because it served as a sort of reminder of him. It buzzed again and Ellis dipped her hand into her pocket to retrieve it, her breath hitching in the back of her throat when the caller ID flashed on screen.

 ** _DAD CALLING_**

Ellis Grant stood in a stunned silence as she stared at the phone, still ringing, in her palm. After a short while she laughed at the irony that her father chose now to reach out to her. Alan Grant hadn't spoke to her in nine months and yet now, the very moment everything he predicted was seemingly coming true here he was, reaching out.

"I'm um…I'm gonna take this." Ellis muttered, a somewhat confused expression flourishing upon her pretty features when she pressed the green button and accepted the call. Owen rolled his oceanic orbs and ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh sure, it's not like we have a crisis on our hands or anything Elle."

Ignoring him completely Ellis brought the phone to her ear, taking a deep breath before greeting the man on the other line. "Hey Dad…" She breathed, keeping her voice as breezy as she could given the circumstances.

"Ellis I need you on the next boat off that island." Alan Grant ordered, not bothering with the pleasantries. Ellis frowned, a 'how are you' would've been nice after nine months of radio silence, or even a 'hello' wouldn't have gone amiss.

"My God, word travels fast how did you find out?"

"It's all over the news."

"Are you serious, it happened no more than fifteen minutes ago?"

"What are you talking about Ellie?"

"What are _you_ talking about dad?"

"China of course, the eggs they uncovered in China. They want you over there immediately for analysis, what with your knowledge of infants and…wait…is something happening on that island?"

Ellis was silent, blinking her chocolate brown orbs rapidly as she attempted to come up with some sort of explanation.

"Ellie?" Alan asked again, and again she stayed quiet. She pulled a face at Owen and he raised his eyebrows in response before tapping the watch on his wrist, signalling that they really had to get a move on.

"Ellis Robyn Grant you tell me what is going on right this second…" There was a sense of urgency in his tone, he was worried and Ellis knew it. There was absolutely no way she was going to tell him what was really going on on Isla Nublar and so she responded the only way she knew how.

The only sound that came out of Ellis' mouth was one that she hoped sounded somewhat like static interference, she held the phone close to her mouth and repeated the sound over and over, throwing in the occasional word as she did so. "Sorry dad…can't hear you… no reception…I'll call later…love you." With that she ended the call, sliding the phone back into the back pocket of her jean shorts and releasing a slow breath.

"I thought people only used that trick in movies." Owen mused, a hint of a smirk dancing upon his features, fading almost immediately back to the serious expression that had been etched onto his face for the past ten minutes.

"Yeah well I don't think he bought it; let's just get this over with."

Nick beckoned over one of the workmen from the far side of the compound. He was a small man, older than Ellis and Owen with a kind face, a soft smile and a dark moustache. Ellis recognised him as the same man who she'd met a week previous, with whom she shared a first name and so when he beamed at her she smiled curtly in response, bowing her head ever so slightly in a friendly nod.

"Miss Grant, it is good to see you back again." He greeted breezily, without a care in the world and Ellis couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for him – he didn't have a clue.

"Listen Ellis you've got to open the door in sector five." Nick explained to the workman quietly, doing his very best not to attract the attention of the other workmen that were milling about the place. The older man's grey eyes widened and he shook his head vigorously, muttering something in Spanish that Ellis knew loosely translated into something like 'Do I look stupid to you?' and she couldn't help but smile. Eventually after some persuasion and a brief explanation of what was going on Ellis Fernandez opened the small door in sector five and the four of them stepped cautiously into the paddock.

It was quiet, Ellis thought, almost too quiet. It was the middle of the afternoon on a damn near Tropical Island and she couldn't hear the singing of a single bird, it was almost as though the breeze moved silently through the shrubbery, everything was eerily still and made every hair on Ellis' body stand on end. She didn't like this, she didn't like it one bit. The four of them were a rather mismatched looking group of people, Ellis and Owen in their usual attire ready for a day's work in the outdoors, Nick with his shirt, tie and hardhat and Ellis Fernandez in his blue overalls, but regardless of their differences they walked together further into the paddock, towards the far wall where they inspected the unusually large claw marks etched into the stone. Owen placed his hand against the wall, three fingers able to fit into one of the gashes, with room either side to spare. He frowned as he looked upwards, he hadn't seen the dinosaur and he honestly had no idea what it was capable, but he somehow doubted it could scale a forty foot wall, genetic hybrid or not.

"You really think she could've climbed out?" Ellis asked quietly, glancing towards Owen who continued to stare intensely up at the wall.

"That depends." He replied.

"On what?" Nick asked, turning to look at Owen with a frown.

"On what kind of dinosaur they cooked up in that lab."

Back in the control room Lowery leaned over towards Vivian, resting his head on his hand as he spoke. "So like I told Ellis the other night, even though I know he's not my real dad, Carl has always been more of a father to me you know?" Vivian nodded, feigning interest and making a mental note to congratulate Ellis Grant on her ability to sit through Lowery Cruthers seemingly endless reels of stories and personal anecdotes. Luckily for the blonde she was saved when Claire Dearing's voice blared out of their headsets, frantic and urgent.

"We have an asset out of containment put ACU on alert this is not a drill." Lowery and Vivian exchanged a glance before Lowery pushed his wheeled chair back to his own work station, waiting for Claire to continue.

"Lowery, get me coordinates on the Indominus."

"Okay yeah, I'm doing it right now." He spoke into the mouthpiece of his headset, punching the keys into the computer before him that initiated the tracking implant embedded into the thick hide of the Indominus Rex. "Wait, what the hell?" As the screen flashed before him the cogs in Lowery's mind turned at ten to the dozen, the Indominus Rex was exactly where she'd always been, she was in paddock eleven. "It's in the cage…" He stated simply.

Claire was driving way over the speed limit, desperate to get back to the control room and get this entire mess sorted as quickly and as painlessly as possible, and it was this speed and adrenaline that made her question what Lowery had just said, had she heard him right? "No that's impossible I was just there." She spoke as she drove.

"Claire I'm telling you she's in the cage." Lowery's tone was a little more forceful this time, having picked up on the vibe that Claire didn't really believe a word he was saying. As a form of validation of what it was he was saying he quickly brought up a live video feed of paddock eleven, expecting to see the Indominus Rex going about her daily business. Instead he was presented with a much more disturbing scene, there were people in there, and more importantly Ellis was in there. "Wait, wait a second there are people in there. Claire…Ellis is in there!"

Claire's voice cracked and her breathing failed her. "Get them out of there now…NOW" She ordered.

"I mean, if it took a running jump?" Ellis suggested, taking a few steps back from the three men and then jogging towards the wall, jumping up on one leg before landing gracefully back on the ground. She turned to face them and raised an eyebrow, Nick simply looked perplexed, Owen shook his head and Ellis Fernandez beamed at her.

"It's possible Miss Grant, she is big after all."

"Exactly! Thank you Ellis," she replied offering Owen a look that said 'at least someone believes in me' before continuing "I like you, I'm going to keep you." She smiled, a smile that was cut short when Vivian Krill's voice came in over the radio. Her words were jittery and Ellis couldn't tell if it was down to nerves or the poor satellite reception they got in the paddock, either way it concerned her.

"Pa…dock…p…paddock eleven, paddock eleven do you copy?" Nick looked at the radio secured on his shoulder and pulled his towards his mouth, pressing down the button to reply.

"Yeah what's the problem?"

"It's in the cage! It's in there with you!" This time Vivian's voice was crystal clear and every one of them heard it. Owen had grabbed Ellis' wrist before she had even had chance to figure what it all meant and was pulling her hard as he ran back towards the small door they'd entered through.

Ellis Fernandez followed after the two handlers; Nick however remained rooted to the spot. In the chaos the other three had failed to see what he was looking directly at, the Indominus Rex which as it stepped out of the foliage, slowly changed colour from various greens and browns back to a brilliant, terrifying white. "Shit!" Nick muttered inwardly as he turned on the spot, using his fingerprint ID to open the large gate to his left. He glanced back every so often as he did so, and bounced on the spot in a mixture of fear and irritation as the large door took a painfully long time opening.

Owen, and the two Ellis' saw the Indominus a fraction of a second after Nick and as a result had already hurtled half way towards it. They skidded to a halt, Ellis dropping Owen's hand from her own in the process and turned, doubling back as quick as they could. Their feet pounded against the hard dirt floor as they made for the gate ahead of them. Owen, who was ahead by at least a few paces, reached an arm back behind him, his hand open and waiting for Ellis to take it in her own. Except she never did.

The Indominus Rex snatched out its abnormally long arms, scooping up Ellis Fernandez in her talons as she did so. One sickle like claw caught Ellis in the arm as the dinosaur scooped up the workman from right beside her, and the pain and force of it was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Blood gushed from the wound, drenching the arm of her green plaid shirt in a sickening crimson red, she felt faint from exertion mixed with fear and within seconds collapsed into a heap on the floor. Falling into a pile of thick mud she lay unconscious for at least a few seconds, coming to just in time to see the Indominus rip Ellis Fernandez's torso from his legs and devour him almost whole. The workman's blood showered down on here in a red mist and tears streamed down her face as the Indominus turned to face her.

Ellis didn't dare break at the dinosaurs reptilian eyes stared straight at her. The stench of its breath was like nothing she had ever encountered before and it took all of her strength not to gag. She stared at the Indominus and it stared right back at her. Ellis froze, she was lying in a muddy puddle on the ground, drenched in a mixture of her own and someone else's blood. She was completely exposed, with the Indominus Rex no more than three feet away from her. The animal roared. At such a close range the sound was terrifyingly loud, and much more menacing than anything she'd heard the raptors do. She could feel herself shaking with fear and did her very best to regulate it, pressing her trembling hands further into the muddy ground in a desperate attempt to steady them. The Indominus Rex roared again but still it did not attack, instead she turned her head this way and that, looking directly at Ellis with each eye, but still it did nothing. Her entire body was tense, awaiting the inevitable fate that Ellis Fernandez had just endured, but no matter how long the animal stared directly at her, it did not attack. By now Ellis was beginning to understand. The Indominus Rex couldn't see her, unlike the T-Rex whose vision was based on movement Ellis knew that Indominus used infra-red to stalk its prey, and the mud with which she was now covered head to toe, was successfully hiding her heat signature from the predator. The Indominus Rex couldn't see Ellis Grant, but that by no means meant it did not suspect she was there, somewhere, and so in a final gesture of frustration and a desperate attempt to scare Ellis into some revealing movement it roared again, a deafening sound that made Ellis close her eyes tight in fear. With that the dinosaur gave up, turning away from Ellis and running after Owen who had just about made it through the large gate before the animal crashed its way through.

Owen slid along the ground and expertly rolled underneath the nearest jeep, turning quickly to watch as the Indominus Rex stormed out of the confines of the only place it had known its entire life. He looked out in silent horror, the realisation that Ellis hadn't followed behind him setting in and hitting him like a tonne of bricks to the chest. He didn't have time to grieve, because the hybrid still knew he and Nick were out there, she was stalking them.

Across the lot Nick sat, curled up as small as a man of his size and stature could ever possibly be, hiding behind an old construction van. Tears streamed down his face and he kissed the crucifix that hung on a gold chain around his neck as he awaited the inevitable.

"What's happening out there?" Lowery Cruthers voice buzzed over the radio and Nick sobbed, knowing that the sound would attract the attention of the very thing he was doing his best to hide from.

"Ellis…" Nick sobbed into the small radio.

"What? What about Ellis?!" Lowery demanded, his voice manic on the other end.

"Ellis is dead." Was the last sentence to fall from Nick's lips, the Indominus Rex approached him cautiously and he turned his face away from the animal in fear. It was only then that he noticed Owen Grady lying under the car a few feet away. Nick screamed and Owen closed his eyes tight as the Indominus Rex clamped its jaws around the guard, engulfing him whole.

In the control room there was silence. Tears streamed down Vivian's pale cheeks and Lowery ripped the earpiece from his head, throwing it down onto his work station with such force that some of his figurines fell over with the impact.

"Do you see what you've done!" He bellowed, squaring up to Simon Masrani who had watched the entire scene unfold from the safety of the control room. "You did this, and now the only person who could probably help in this situation is dead. This is on you." With that he pushed past the CEO, and walked to the other side of the room, his hands resting on the back of his head and his chest rising and falling rapidly as he took quick, raggedy breaths. If he didn't know better Lowery would have sworn he was having a heart attack, his chest felt tight and he struggled to get enough air into his lungs. After a few agonizing moments he crumbled to the ground his face in his hands. Vivian rushed towards him, falling to her knees beside him and wrapping a comforting arm around him, all the while glaring at Simon Masrani who stood in front of the large screen in the centre of the room, looking all too calm Vivian thought.

 **A/N: Hot diggity damn that was a hell of a lot longer than I expected it to be. BUT HEY! We're in the action! I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I certainly hope you enjoyed reading it! If you did or have any thoughts on it please leave a review as I honestly love to read them! If you want to see more of Ellis + the gang head over to my Insatiable blog (jurassicinsatiable) on tumblr! Thank you so much guys!**


	10. Chapter 10

The entire thing couldn't have lasted more than a couple of minutes, but to Ellis who still sat shivering in a pile of mud, it had felt like hours. She daren't even breathe as she sat there, terrified that the Indominus Rex could and would come back at any moment; to finish what hit had started when its sickle like claw tore at the skin of her arm. She glanced towards her sleeve, soaked in blood that she wasn't certain was entirely her own and she peeled back the plaid material of her shirt to expose the wound. The gash thankfully wasn't too deep, but her flesh was ragged and the pain was like nothing else she'd ever experienced. Ellis carefully wriggled out of her shirt, tying it tightly around the top of her arm to cover the wound and hopefully stem the bleeding. She used her teeth to tighten the knot before both her arms fell limply at her side once more. She wasn't crying anymore, but evidence that she had been was evident on her face, there were clear tracks that ran down her pale cheeks, which were a stark contrast to the grey mud that caked every other inch of her skin. Ellis could hear her heart beating loudly in her ears, pumping blood and adrenaline rapidly around her body, despite the dizziness she felt whenever she moved, she knew she couldn't sit on the floor and simply wait to be attacked again – she had to get up, she had to get to safety.

Getting shakily to her feet took a lot longer than she had originally anticipated, and once upright she stumbled, her body in a state of shock, not wanting to do anything other than sit on the cold muddy ground. But still she persevered, taking tentative steps towards the gate that the Indominus Rex had crashed through only moments earlier. Once there she peered outside, making sure the hybrid was well and truly gone before stepping out into the open. What she was greeted with was a scene of pure chaos, cars and heavy lifting vehicles were over turned, blood was spattered everywhere and although she hadn't majored in the study of the human anatomy she was fairly sure she could create a whole person out of the various _bits_ that were dotted around outside the paddock. Although she prided herself on being anything but a girlish girl, the bloody and the gore proved too much and Ellis reached out a shaky hand, grabbing the nearest solid surface to steady herself. Her eyesight blurred and her stomach churned uncomfortably, she was quiet certain she was going to be sick, and probably would have, had something not collided with her with such force that it knocked the air from her lungs.

Owen Grady's strong arms wrapped around Ellis so tightly that she had to smack him hard, gasping that she couldn't breathe. When he finally released her she took a moment to catch her breath before looking at him, properly looking at him, and grinning from ear to ear. This time Ellis threw her arms around Owen's neck hugging him tightly. She closed her eyes and cried silent tears of joy, the fumes from the gasoline which covered him head to toe made her eyes sting and water even more. Owen stroked her hair gently with one hand, lifting her from up off the ground and spinning her round with the other.

"You son of a bitch." Ellis finally chastised him when they eventually pulled away from one another. Despite her words she continued to smile at him, even more so when he feigned offence at her words. "I thought you were dead!"

"I thought _you_ were dead." Owen laughed and Ellis shook her head in disbelief. She silently thanked every god she could think of for keeping Owen alive, because those last few minutes where she honestly believed that she'd lost her very best friend had been the worst of her entire life. "You're filthy." He commented after a brief moments silence, Ellis responded by simply raising an eyebrow, at which point Owen nodded towards her clothing. He was right, every inch of her skin was caked in – no dry – grey mud, she honestly looked ridiculous.

"It couldn't see me."

"What?"

"The Indominus, she knew I was there but she couldn't see me. The mud hid my heat signature."

"Like in Predator?" Owen asked in astonishment, Predator was Ellis Grant's favourite film and he had been made to watch it far more often than he'd liked these past nine months, he had always commented on how unbelievable it was – it looked like Ellis had just proven him wrong.

"Exactly like in Predator." She laughed.

The pair's light-hearted moment was cut drastically short when somewhere in the distance the Indominus Rex let out a menacing roar. Every hair on Ellis' body stood on end at the mere sound of it and she whipped her head around towards the sound. Owen slipped his hand into her own and pulled her gently from the spot in which fear had rooted her.

"Ellie come on." He whispered. "We've got to find a car, get to the control room and find out what the hell went wrong out here." It took a few moments for Ellis to register what it was Owen had said, but eventually she nodded, and moved to follow after him, turning to glance over her shoulder towards where the sound had come from every now and then as she walked.

It didn't take them long to find a jeep, it was parked around the pack of the paddock and miraculously the keys had been left in the ignition, Owen had commented that today was their lucky day, followed by a shaky laugh. Ellis had briefly wondered where the jeeps owner had gone, before deciding to push that particular thought aside and focus on the disaster that was unfolding in front of her. History was literally repeating itself, just as her father had warned her it would, and here she was right in the middle of it.

Claire Dearing stepped into the control room and was met by a wall of deafening silence. All eyes turned to face her, some sad, others questioning and just a handful looked at her with undiluted judgement, they blamed her for what they had just witnessed – and she did too. She walked further into the room and heads turned to follow her movements, waiting for her to say something, anything.

"Everyone. Remain. Calm." She finally spoke, doing her very best to keep her own voice from cracking and put an end to the composed façade she was trying her hardest to maintain.

On hearing her voice Lowery looked up, his eyes red and puffy from tears, Vivian's the same. The two technicians stared at Claire before shakily helping one another to their feet. To say Lowery was angry about the events of that afternoon would be an understatement, but he knew his position, they were trained for situations like this – granted they never thought they'd have to put their training to use – and he had a job to do, to make sure no one else got hurt. Pulling out his chair he sat down at his work station, Vivian too took her seat beside him. Everyone's had long since shifted from Claire and were now trained solely on the small beacon that flashed red on the large screen in the centre of the control room. The Indominus Rex's tracking device had been activated and the map on the screen showed them exactly where on the island the hybrid was.

"The implant will shock it if it gets too close to a perimeter fence." The red head explained, walking with purpose to the centre of the room.

"Okay, it's moving really fast." Lowery stated, punching a few keys into his keyboard as he did so.

Beside him Vivian pressed the button on her earpiece, readying herself to send an emergency alert across every frequency on the island. "This is control put out a park-wide alert-"

"No, hang up that damn phone please!" Simon Masrani interrupted her, walking from the back of the control room – where he had hidden himself after Lowery's outburst minutes ago – to stand behind Vivian.

"Sorry I'm getting new information. Everything's fine." She muttered into the mouth piece, releasing the button and turning to face Masrani.

"Let asset containment capture it quietly, the very existence of this park predicated on our ability to handle incidents like this." Simons speech was less to Vivian and more to the entire staff, he nodded whilst he spoke as though trying to solidify that what he was saying was true. Lowery ignored him until Masrani spoke again. "It was an eventuality okay?."

Rage bubbled up inside Lowery and he wanted nothing more than to lash out at the CEO, how dare he say that Ellis' death was 'an eventuality' as though it didn't really mean anything. Restraining himself physically Lowery responded the only way he knew how to without getting himself fired, with sarcasm. "You should put that in the brochure. _Eventually_ , one of these things will eat somebody."

Claire frowned, but given the fragility of the situation she chose to instead redirect the topic. "That paddock is four miles from the closest attraction. ACU can handle this, no one else is gonna get-"

"Eaten?" Lowery muttered, his thick eyebrows rising as he did so.

Walking through the Visitor Centre – looking like they did – meant Ellis and Owen turned almost every head. The people they walked past erupted into whispers, openly wondering why this tall muscled man smelt so strongly of gasoline and was that girl covered in dirt or mud, or both? Ignoring the comments that followed them as they walked Ellis and Owen stepped into the elevator that lead up to the control room. Owen's face was one of thunder, whilst Ellis' remained fairly indifferent. The elevator make a quiet 'ding' sound before the doors opened, and it was this sound that caught the attention of Lowery and Claire who turned to see who it was walking into the room.

Owen stepped out first, his eyes ablaze with anger that practically seeped from every orifice in his body. "What the hell happened out there?" He demanded, pushing past the guard that ordered him to show some identification. Claire turned her body so that she was facing him fully and her lips curved up into a hint of a smile – she was thankful he wasn't dead, although she could do without his attitude at this present moment.

Ellis stepped out of the elevator with much less of the theatrics, although she noted that despite Owen's outburst, all eyes were on her. Her gaze flickered around the room and she frowned, literally every pair of eyes watched her, seemingly in amazement and she couldn't for the life of her figure out why.

"Oh my god." Vivian breathed out a sigh of relief.

Lowery Cruthers stood up slowly, his mouth slightly agape and his breath hitching in his throat at the mere sight of her. When their gazes met the world stopped, the commotion of the control room, the beeping of the computers, the rhythmic hum of the fans above their heads, all slowed down until there was nothing. Nothing but Lowery and Ellis. He closed the distance between them with a frankly remarkable speed, and, once close enough, he took her face in his hands and crashed their lips together. Ellis' heart hammered loudly in her chest and her eyes fluttered to a close. She instinctively looped her arms around Lowery's neck and stepped up onto her tiptoes. Running her tongue along his bottom lip she smiled into the kiss, he tasted like one of those sugar filled ice drinks that turn your tongue blue after one sip, and she wouldn't have him any other way. When they finally prized themselves apart she was breathless and his cheeks were flushed pink. A couple of technicians cheered in the background and Ellis rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe that was our first kiss and you're absolutely covered in dirt." Lowery mused, pushing aside a stray strand of hair from Ellis' face and running his thumb along her cheekbone, laughing as it left a mark of clean skin in its wake.

Ellis' lips curved up into a smirk and she kinked one eyebrow. "I can't believe you're wearing that shirt. You know who my dad is don't you?" Lowery groaned and she laughed, pressing a gentle kiss against his cheek before finally pulling away completely – now was not the time for this sort of thing, right now she had other less desirable things to be dealing with.

Lowery returned to his seat and Ellis moved to stand beside Owen who smirked at her.

"Shut up." She mumbled, and he nudged her gently in response before folding his arms across his chest, and turning to Claire with a frown.

"She did not just disappear." He stated simply, referring to the Indominus.

Claire heaved out a sigh and glanced towards him. "It must have been some sort of technical malfunction."

"I'm sorry Claire were you not watching?" Ellis piped up, a frown set on her own features now; she refused to allow her own near death experience to be passed off as nothing more than a technical malfunction. "She marked up that wall as a distraction, she wanted us to think she'd escaped!"

"Hold on we are talking about an animal here." Clare snapped, glaring at Ellis.

"A highly intelligent animal." Owen spoke slowly, as though he were explaining something in much simpler terms to a child. Claire glared at him too.

Around them the room fell silent as the ACU officers flashed up on screen, by now the team were no more than a few hundred metres from the beacon that shone brightly in the middle of the large LED screen. Ellis gasped at the sight of the officers, or more so at what they were carrying. "You're going after her with none lethals?" She breathed out, her tone of voice rising ever so slightly indicating her confusion.

"We have twenty six million dollars invested in that asset we can't just kill it." Masrani said, speaking as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Ellis frowned and Owen turned to face the CEO.

"These men are going to die."

"Three hundred metres to the beacon." Vivan called out.

"Call this off now." Ellis ordered, though her words were ignored.

"They're right on top of it." Lowery stated from his chair and Owen turned to Claire.

"Call it off, right now." He demanded.

"You are not in control here!" Claire yelled, taking Ellis a little by surprise.

On the screen the ACU officers navigated their way through the thick Costa Rican jungle, following their equipment to where the Indominus Rex should have supposedly been. When they arrived, they found nothing. Their leader, Chang, stepped forward, away from the group, surveying the area as he did so. The radar on his wrist beeped loudly, signalling that he was as close to the beacon as he could possibly be and so he scanned the immediate area, eventually spotting a thick piece of bloodied hide on the ground. Picking it up he turned it over in his hands, the tracking device was embedded into the skin.

"What is that?" Masrani asked, peering up at the screen in confusion.

"That's her tracking implant, she clawed it out." Ellis explained, she'd seen one or two of them in her nine months on the island – every animal was fitted with one for in case of situations such as this.

"How would it know to do that?" Claire asked in disbelief.

"Because she remembered where they put it in." Owen explained quickly.

On the screen, chaos ensued. It became clear that as well as being able to hide her own heat signature the Indominus Rex was also adapted to be able to camouflage itself into its surroundings. ACU team members were murdered and all everyone in the control room could do was watch in silent horror as their lives one by one flat lined on the screen in the centre of the room. At the sight of it Ellis turned away.

"Evacuate the island." Owen ordered.

"We'd never re-open." Was all Claire could reply and Ellis scoffed, this was typical of Claire, caring more about her work than the actual lives of actual human people.

"You made a genetic hybrid, raised it in captivity, she is seeing all of this for the first time. She doesn't even know what _she_ is." Owen pointed towards the massacre on the screen. "She will kill everything that moves."

"You think the animal is contemplating its own existence?" Masrani asked.

"She is learning where she fits in the food chain."

"And she is _insatiable_." Ellis concluded.

 **A/N: Wow, I can't believe that Insatiable has almost hit 200 follows, that is amazing and so so SO much more than I ever thought possible when I started writing this story. Well here is chapter 10! I hope you're enjoying it so far. As usual if you have time please leave a review because honestly they motivate me so much! Also if you want to see some edits/gifs/videos of Ellis + the gang head over to my Insatiable blog (jurassicinsatiable) on tumblr where you can message me or just have a look through. Thank you so much again, you guys have no idea how much this story means to me!**


	11. Chapter 11

For a long while the only sounds in the Control Room were those that came from the large super computers on the other side of the room, a soft hum of the fans and the rhythmic beeping emanating from computer screens where technicians sat dumbfounded by what they'd just witnessed on the large screen.

It was Ellis who spoke first, turning to face the large screen and signalling for Lowery to rewind the footage they'd just watched on the live feed, and pausing it when the Indominus Rex came fully into view. "This… _thing_." She pointed towards the menacing animal on screen that somehow seemed to be staring directly at them. "It's no animal. For lack of a better word Masrani what you've created here is a monster and not the fun kind that's good for a quick scare then happy to get back in its cage. This dinosaur, not that I'm even really willing to call it that, is a weapon and in condoning its creation you've single handily signed the death warrant of pretty much every person on this god damn island."

"Ellis, please, let's not be too hasty." Masrani would've continued but Ellis held up her hand and instantly the older man was silenced. Around the room technicians exchanged glances, they'd never seen Masrani react this way to someone lower in the chain of command, they would've been impressed if they weren't all absolutely terrified.

"Give the order for an evacuation Simon, don't make the same mistakes Hammond did in thinking you can control this."

"But we have controlled it; the park has been major incident free for years. ACU can contain this, no one else has to get hurt." Claire Dearing was well and truly in business mode, desperate to save not the people, but her job.

Ellis breathed heavily out of her nose, her patience quickly wearing thin. There was a part of her, albeit very small, that honestly wanted to believe that given the right tools and training the ACU probably could take down the I-Rex but a much bigger part of her knew better than that. She'd heard enough recounted tales of horror in her lifetime, from her father, from Billy even from Tim Murphy. When Jurassic Park falls gun power doesn't save the people unfortunate enough to be in it, it's sheer luck that does that. With a shake of her head the petite brunette pushed past Claire and Simon, purposely dirtying their crisp business attire with the blood and dirt that caked every inch of her. A sound of utter disgust fell from Claire's lips and she shot Ellis a glare.

Ellis headed straight for Lowery who immediately wrapped his hands around her waist the moment she was close enough – he'd already lost her once today and he didn't intend on doing so a second time – and placed a gentle kiss against her forehead.

"That was super hot." He mumbled into her hair and she laughed a quiet response.

"I've got to go." Ellis stated quietly, wriggling free from his unusually strong grasp. "I've got to make sure the girls are safe, and then I'm going to get myself the hell off this island. I suggest you do the same."

Lowery Cruthers had never thought of himself as a particularly brave man, had this been any other day, he probably would've been first in line to get on a boat and to safety. But this was today, and today he had finally gotten Ellis, he wasn't going anywhere without her.

"I'll come with you." He assured her, but she shook her head.

"Need you here; you're our eyes and ears. I'll meet you at the boat." It was a compromise, but one that he was willing to agree to. Reaching down to his desk Lowery grabbed a small handheld radio, flicking it to frequency five and tucking it into the waist of Ellis' jean shorts.

"Once word gets out, they'll shut down the cell towers to prevent the news spreading to the mainland. You won't be able to call me, but the private frequencies will be open. I'll be on channel five if you need me, if you need _anything_." He tapped the small earpiece that had been near constantly attached to his head ever since Ellis had met him and she nodded. "Be careful." Lowery added.

"You too. Get a move on Grady, we can't leave Barry to secure the paddock on his own." Taking a step away from Lowery, Ellis beckoned Owen Grady who looked to be worryingly close to Simon Masrani. She wondered whether or not she should wait for him to knock some sense into the CEO, but decided that right now they had bigger, more important things to be dealing with.

"Asset Containment can use live ammunition in an emergency situation. You have an M1-34 in your armoury. Put it on a chopper and smoke this thing!" Owen narrowed his eyes at Masrani as he too pushed past him, stopping only to lean close to the CEO and offer one final word of advice. "Ellis is right; I would have a word with your people in the lab." Making his way across the control room he finally re-joined Ellis and together they made their way out of the, now completely silent, room. The security guard that had tried to deny them entry made no attempt to stop the pair leaving and actively pressed the button that called the elevator for them.

"Ellis." Lowery called out as she was about to step into the elevator. "I…"

"Don't." Ellis shook her head as the doors began to close. "Tell me when we get off the island." The elevator doors slid silently to a close and Ellis' hands found the bar on the far wall as it began to move.

Owen released a slow whistle. "So that was pretty intense."

"I think it's gonna be one of them days."

"You know, you might actually be right about something for once Elle."

When the elevator reached the ground level Ellis braced herself, standing up a little straighter and clasping her arms together behind her back. Owen instinctively mirrored her movements and together the pair stepped out of the elevator. Their dishevelled appearance – Ellis considerably more so than Owen – and stony expressions earned the duo a number of curious glances from staff an visitors alike. A number of parents took hold of their children, dragging them away from the pair of park operatives that looked as though they'd just gone two rounds with a T-Rex. If only they knew, Ellie thought to herself, her heart sinking as her chocolate orbs flickered to a group of elementary aged kids, digging in the manmade palaeontology dig site. She had been that child once, filled with excitement at the prospect of unearthing something new, bursting with pride whenever she dug up something that wasn't just another rock.

"They deserve to know what's going on." She whispered to Owen as the pair walked through the Hammond Creation Lab, their quickest exit back towards the Paddock that they'd come to call home. "They're all in danger and they've not got a clue."

"Keep a lid on it Grant." Owen warned, making his best effort to assert what little authority he had over Ellis by calling her by her surname – something he didn't do as frequently nowadays as he had done when she'd first arrived on the island. "Mass hysteria is the complete opposite of what we need right now. Containing the Indominus is one thing, but trying to control the real housewives of Isla Nublar? Believe me, they and everyone else on this island is safer if they _don't_ know what's really happening."

"I know, I really do, you're right. I'm just annoyed, I was so sure that this time it would be different." She tried to run a hand through her hair in frustration but her fingers got knotted in the matted mess and after a moment tugging she merely dropped both hands to her side with a heavy sigh. "My dad was right, about everything. He's going to be insufferable now."

Slinging a lazy arm around Ellis' shoulders - being careful not to knock her injured arm in the process - Owen shook his head and gave her shoulders a light squeeze. "When you get off this island, the first thing he's going to say to you will probably be along the lines of 'I'm so happy you're safe', I'm pretty sure 'I told you so' will be at least third on his list of priority conversation topics."

"You've not met my dad."

The light hearted moment between the pair was quickly drawn to a close when the sound of Claire Dearing's voice called to them from the far end of the hallway they were walking through. Owen stopped, turning towards her and Ellis took a step away from him, she hadn't even realised that she'd all but collapsed into him the moment he'd wrapped his arm around her – the incident with the Indominus had clearly taken a lot more out of her than she had previously realised. Claire's heels clicked irritatingly against the marble floor of the creation lab hallway and Ellis silently thanked the gods when the red head stopped in front of them because it meant that the insufferable clicking had stopped as a result. The brunette tentatively folded her arms across her chest and raised a brow; her expression awash with irritation, Owen's beside her was etched with concern, something that only served to irritate Ellis Grant further.

"I need you." Claire's voice was wrought with what Ellis could only assume were genuine nerves and for a moment Ellis' hatred for the red head faltered, she almost felt sorry for her, but the moment was fleeting and Ellie's expression was stony again within microseconds.

"That's not the impression we got up in the control room."

Claire narrowed her eyes at Ellis before turning her body to face Owen, taking a step closer to the much taller man. "I need your help."

"Okay…"

"My nephews, they're out in the valley, please, if anything happens to them." The more she spoke the more emotional Claire became, something which again astonished Ellis as up until this moment she'd been quite sure Claire Dearing was completely animatronic with zero ability to feel anything remotely resembling human emotion. A couple of people around the trio cast them wary looks and both Ellis and Owen noticed. Springing into action they instinctively took steps closer towards Claire, Owen taking a tentative hold of the redheads forearm, pulling her to a more secluded area of the lab, Ellis not far behind.

With Claire completely out of view of prying public eyes they spoke again. "How old are they?" Ellis inquired, this time genuinely concerned.

"Uhm…" Claire swallowed hard as she fought back the tears that threatened to fall from her icy blue eyes. "The older one he's like high school aged and the younger one he's…uhm…he's a few years…"

"You don't know how old your nephews are?" Ellis had to admit she was a little taken aback by Owen's somewhat blunt question, but he had a point, clearly Claire was the same in every aspect of her life as she was at work.

Claire didn't answer; instead she simply looked at Owen through watery blue eyes and gently pulled her arm from his firm grasp, rubbing the area of skin where his calloused hands had touched her as though she had been burnt.

"It doesn't matter how old they are." Ellie eventually spoke. "What matters is that there are two children, alone on this island where an apex predator is on the loose." She folded her arms across her chest once more, wincing slightly when the gash in her arm was pulled awkwardly by the material that she'd wrapped around it. "Now I don't know about you two but two kids lost on an island full of dinosaurs sounds eerily familiar."

"I really don't have the time or patience for your sarcasm right now Ellis." Claire snapped, her head whipping around to glare at the brunette. "My nephews are out there where people are dying because Lowery was too distracted by you to actually do his job properly and recall all of the gyros, so you can either help me find them or I'll go on my own. It's up to you."

Biting back the much more malicious words that she wanted to spit at the operations manager Ellis settled with the PG version. "Don't you dare try and pin your own negligence on Lowery. I'll help you find them, but only because I know all three of you would be dead by nightfall if it was left up to you Claire, and I don't feel like having the death of a couple of kids on my conscience."

"Hey!" Owen had had about as much as he could handle of Ellis and Claire's near constant bickering, when Ellis had arrived on the island nine months ago he'd found the way the pair clashed to be quite entertaining, but the novelty was wearing off fast. "No one is gonna die, not today at least. So the pair of you shut up and listen to me. We're going to walk out of this heavily civilian populated area with smiles on our faces, we're not going to look scared or worried or _pissed off_ at each other." He directed that final comment towards Ellie and she pulled a face. "We're not going to draw any unwanted attention to ourselves am I clear?"

"You're clear." The two women said in unison, Owen had to chew back the smug grin that threatened to illuminate his handsome features; it wasn't every day he could get either one of the women before him to agree with him, let alone with each other. Giving a final nod, Owen took off in the direction of the garages, Ellis and Claire followed diligently behind him, having to quicken their steps to keep up with his much longer gait.

"So what exactly is the plan?" Ellis' voice was quiet behind him as not to attract the attention of any holiday makers but loud enough so that both Owen and Claire could hear her clearly.

"We're going to get in a Jeep and head out to the valley; it's their last known location so it makes sense."

"It's also exactly where the I-Rex is going to go." Ellis whisper yelled, her eyebrows knitting together in a frown as she did so. "The valley is the biggest food source north of the resort, all of the herbivores graze there."

"But it wouldn't attack them right? They're not a threat?" Claire's voice was more questioning than contradictory; Ellis offered her a glance before shrugging.

"If what we've seen already is anything to go by, she'll tear through them regardless of whether or not they're a threat to her. I think we should head for the forest."

"There are over fifty kilometres of forest on this island Elle, where exactly do you suggest we start?" Owen didn't turn to look at the girl he was speaking to, instead he kept his gaze firmly set forward and his strides long. Owen Grady had never looked more like a military man than he did at this very moment.

"Well fine, how about we split up? You and Claire take the valley and I'll scope out the forest?"

"Have you never watched a scary movie? Splitting up is almost always a bad idea."

As they entered the garage Ellis grabbed the keys for one of the armoured Jeeps, throwing another set in Owen's direction who expertly caught them in one hand. On the other side of the room Owen loaded up a rifle, packing a few extra magazines into his belt. Ellis did the same, shoving spare ammunition into any pocket she could fit them into before securing her own rifle over her shoulder – she'd only every shot tin cans off of gate posts with Billy when she was younger, and until today she'd been firmly against taking the life of another living animal, but needs must.

"We're not in a scary movie Owen, this is real life. We've got to find them kids."

She'd thought that he would've taken a little more persuading, but to her surprise Owen nodded. He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger, bringing her head up so that her chocolate brown gaze locked onto his own blue one. "Watch your back out there Grant do you hear me?"

"You too Grady." She offered him a weak smile before freeing herself from his grasp and climbing into the driver's seat of one of the Jeeps. Her gaze met Claire's and for a second the two girls stared at one another, eventually Claire smiled and Ellis gave her a quick nod. When she turned the key in the ignition the diesel engine roared to life and the car vibrated softly. Ellis Grant didn't look back towards the garage as she drove into the dense foliage of the Isla Nublar forest, instead she kept her gaze firmly forward and prayed to god she found those kids before the Indominus did.

* * *

 **A/N: IT'S BEEN SO LONG! I'm so unbelievably sorry that I've not updated in so long, I've been distracted by other things and by life but I am back. Since i've not written Ellis, or any of the other Insatiable characters in so long this chapter is admittedly short. I just wanted to get back into the swing of things + get a feel for everyone again. I hope you enjoy the chapter despite it's short length! I'm so so excited to be writing my bae Ellis again I have missed her! As usual if you want to ask any questions/see edits and gifsets of Ellis and Insatiable then head to my blog on tumblr (lydamartin) or the Insatiable blog on the same site (jurassicinsatiable) where you always get a hold of me. If you have the time or if you want to then please leave a review because they absolutely make my day. Thank you to those who have stuck with the story, I promise it wont be this long before I update again!**


	12. Chapter 12

About ten minutes into the drive Ellis was forced to turn the headlights on as the dense foliage of trees, ferns and god only knows what else almost completely blocked the sun's rays from filtering down and illuminating the dirt track she was currently driving along. The Land Cruiser she was driving paved a pathway for itself through the branches and for a moment Ellis forgot about the mortal peril she presently found herself in and found herself admiring the view – or lack thereof.

She'd always known Isla Nublar was a beautiful island, she'd known it the moment the fog had lifted the day she and Masrani took the ferry from the mainland, she'd known it when they'd driven to the Hammond Centre via the maintenance roads that were closed off from the public and gave an even closer up view of the animals. Somehow, today, it looked even more magnificent than ever. She was surrounded on all sides by black jungle and driving fast – probably too fast – but she was still able to distinguish the various types of ferns and flora that she sped past, some very rare, others very poisonous and she made a mental note to tell her pseudo aunt Ellie Sattler all about them when she got off the island, if she ever got off the island.

In truth Ellis wasn't really worried about her own safety as she sped through the trees, she had a rifle on the spare seat and enough magazines to put up a damn good fight should she need to. That, and Ellis Grant had survival in her blood. Her father, Alan, had survived worse than this, not once but twice. Alan Grant was notorious for his ability to get out of dangerous situations, Billy had once told her about the time her father had been lost in the Montana Badlands for four days after a cliff gave way and he and his Jeep fell over one hundred feet into a ravine. He'd broken his leg in the fall, had no water or rations to speak of and still he walked back the four days back to camp. Ellis smiled at the thought of her father, and felt comforted by the knowledge that his blood ran through her veins. She was a Grant, she'd survive this. The kids that she was looking for however…

The crackle of the radio that was still holstered to her jean shorts dragged her from whatever dark thoughts she was about to have about Zach and Gray Mitchell and she took one hand off the wheel to turn up the volume.

"E…Ellis?" The all too familiar voice of Lowery Cruthers crackled through the radio. The static noise was loud and distorted his words, but she'd know that voice anywhere and a smile spread across her face at the sound of it.

Unclipping the small handheld radio from her shorts she brought it up to her lips and holding down the transmit button on the side she grinned. "Yeah, yeah you got me."

The radio crackled again and Ellis took a quick moment to check she was tuned into the right frequency before deciding that the poor signal was due to the dense forest she currently found herself driving through and not through a fault of her own. "Oh thank god…" Lowery's voice flooded out of the small speaker again. "Barry told me you're not at the paddock, where are you?"

"I'm uh…driving."

"Where to? To the paddock?"

"No, no…" Ellis sighed heavily, "I'm helping Claire and Owen look for Claire's nephews, their gyro went missing in the valley."

"You're with Owen, that's okay I guess. The last ping on the cameras of the I-Rex was somewhere in the forest so steer clear of there."

Ellis eased up a little on the accelerator, suddenly becoming all too aware of how much noise the Jeep was making as it thundered through the blacked out forest. "I'm not with Owen, he went to the valley with Claire to look for the boys."

"Ellis." Lowery's voice turned serious, something that was rarely heard and something that sounded altogether very wrong. "Where are you." It was more of a demand than a question.

"In the forest."

A number of expletives came blasting out of the radio in her hand and with a frown Ellis turned the volume down a fraction. In the back of her mind she made a sarcastic comment that went something like ' _if you don't want me to get eaten so bad then maybe try shutting the hell_ _up_ ' though she didn't voice these thoughts, she knew Lowery was only concerned for her safety.

"Listen Lowery, I'm fine. I'm safe. I can handle myself; I don't need a man to get me through this. I'm going to find these damn kids and then I'll come straight back, you just concentrate on getting all the civilians off this god damn island. Okay?"

In the control room Lowery Cruthers sat back in his chair and huffed out a sigh, he knew she had a point, he knew she could hold her own but that didn't make him feel any less terrible about the situation that his not really girlfriend currently found herself in – especially given that he could have prevented it by keeping tabs on the gyrospheres in the valley like he had supposed to have. Pressing a couple of buttons on his keyboard Lowery brought up a number of camera feeds, he punched in another command, one that would bring up any video feet that showed movement within the forest. It was a programme he'd created when he first accepted his job in the control room and the Ankylosaurus' had gotten into the habit of wandering off the grid, and it was the perfect tool for finding Ellis in the vast forest that spanned across the majority of Isla Nublar. On his screen a number of video feeds flashed up, he minimised a couple almost instantly when it became obvious that the motion being detected was that of a herbivorous dinosaur and not the girl he'd been kissing no less than an hour ago but after some rifling through various feeds he finally picked her Jeep out and expanded the image. Grabbing hold of a plush dinosaur toy from atop of his desk Lowery gave it a quick squeeze as he frowned at the screen, he could just about make out Ellis' face on the other side of the windshield as she sped through the dense forest and the more he watched her the more he found himself infuriated by the fact that he ever let her leave the control room in the first place.

"Okay." He finally agreed with her after a moment's silence. Ellis smirked in silent victory and in the control room Lowery rolled his eyes, having seen the whole thing. "You know you spend too much time with Owen…" Lowery mused over the radio, in the car Ellis glanced at the radio in her hand but otherwise kept quiet. "They're just people, visitors really, civilians makes it sound so military and regimented."

"Please help get the visitors off the island." She corrected before shaking her head and raising the radio to her lips once more. "No that wont do, now it sounds like aliens have invaded and I'm asking you to help them phone home."

On the other end of the line Lowery laughed and beside him Vivian offered him a puzzled look, he waved her off before continuing to speak to Ellis. "We can figure out what to call them when you get back, be…s..fe..Elle."

"What was that, Lowery you're breaking up?"

"I s…be…sa..can..y-you…h…me?"

Ellis knocked the radio against the steering wheel a couple of times but nothing happened, eventually the static crackling even stopped and she was met with a deafening silence.

"Lowery?" She spoke once more before giving up and tossing the radio onto the passenger seat where her rifle lay. She had barely even noticed how deep into the forest she'd driven, it was near enough pitch black and the foliage was so thick that she wasn't really surprised that the signal had finally given up the ghost.

Placing both hands against the wheel Ellis hunched forward, squinting her chocolate brown orbs in an attempt to get a clearer view of the dirt track ahead of her. Even with the headlights on full beam she could only see a metre or so in front of her and so when she finally caught sight of a fallen tree she was forced to slam on the breaks so hard that her seatbelt went ridged, knocking the wind right out of her as it did it's best to stop her body from flying forward and going straight through the windscreen. Catching her breath she leant back into the seat, rubbing a hand gingerly over the exposed skin that was now sporting a pretty impressive looking belt burn, just another injury to add to the list.

She sat that way for a moment, patting herself down to assess if any further damage had been inflicted thanks to her near collision, thankfully everything seemed to be in working order and her only real problem was the fact that she was going absolutely nowhere in this Jeep – not unless she developed superhuman strength and shifted the entire tree that was blocking her path, which wasn't looking so likely. Ellis cut the engine and grabbed the rifle from the passenger seat, deciding that going it on foot was her only option; she had to find Zach and Gray, or at the very least a road that led back to the main park. She half considered leaving the small radio on the seat where she'd tossed it a few minutes ago, after all it was not like she could get a decent signal under such a thick canopy but the realisation that not taking it would mean that she was completely and utterly alone made her feel uneasy and so she grabbed it and holstered it once more on the belt of her jean shorts before clambering out of the Jeep.

Climbing over the tree was the first obstacle Ellis found herself up against, with one of her arms all but useless after her run in with the Indominus earlier that afternoon she was forced to take a running jump and simply hope for the best. She prayed silent thanks to all the gods that she didn't believe in what the tread of her trusty walking boots gripped the bark of the tree with ease and she was able to climb up and over using her one good arm. On the other side she dropped expertly to her feet and a smug smile spread across her pretty, if not completely filthy, features – this was gonna be a walk in the park.

For a long while she trudged through the seemingly endless forest without seeing a single living thing, she could hear birds in the distance but hadn't seen one in the hour it had been since she left the Jeep behind. Keeping a tight grip on the rifle that was secured across her shoulders she pressed onwards, making mental notes of any noticeable landmarks, ensuring that if she found herself turned around in the labyrinth that was Isla Nublar, she would hopefully be able to find her way back eventually – hopefully. It was only when she took a moment to actually sit down and rest did she see anything of any actual note. Half sitting half leaning against the stump of a tree Ellis unclipped the radio from her belt for the second time that day, flicking through the frequencies in the hope of picking something, anything, up. She knocked it against the trunk of the tree she was leaning against in frustration when nothing, not even static, could be heard out of the small speaker on the front of the black rectangular device before grumbling irritably and holstering it once more. With nothing better to do with her time whilst she regained her energy Ellis's chocolate brown orbs flickered aimlessly around her surroundings, stopping only when something not too far from the tree she found herself leaning on caught her attention.

Pushing herself to a stand she made her way towards the thing that was half buried under the dirt and leaf debris, had anyone but herself seen it poking up out of the dirt it would almost definitely go unnoticed. Not many people knew what a velociraptor claw looked like, not unless they were palaeontologists like her and her father, or had worked face to face with raptors like her and Owen. Dropping to her knees Ellis used her hands as shovels to dig out the claw, before leaning back on her heels and inspecting it once she'd unearthed it completely.

"Oh my god…" She said, to no one besides herself, turning the find over in her hands a few times. A small smile danced upon her lips as she looked at it, but was immediately wiped off her face the moment someone's voice startled her and she dropped the claw to the ground.

"What is it?" The voice asked, Ellis' head whipped around to find the source only to be greeted with two absolutely soaking wet, mud covered young boys.

Getting to her feet Ellis laughed softly, not quite believing that she'd somehow stumbled upon the Mitchell boys, or rather that they had stumbled upon her. Retrieving the claw from the ground she passed it to the younger of the two, the one that had asked her. "It's a velociraptor claw."

"A real one?" Gray Mitchell asked, reaching out an arm from his slightly concealed position behind his elder brother to take the claw from her.

"Yeah, it's kind of amazing actually. That claw is thousands of years old, it's fossilised…so it didn't come from any of the raptors that have ever lived on this island. My dad used to have one just like it…"

Zach cleared his throat, pushing his little brother to one side and standing up straighter so that he was almost as tall as Ellis. He ran a hand through his wet hair in a way that Ellis assumed he thought looked attractive before pouting ever so slightly and giving her a small nod. "Hey…" He spoke, doing his very best to make his voice as sultry and appealing as ever. Beside him Gray rolled his eyes, even now when they'd literally just jumped to their deaths to get away from a dinosaur, Zach Mitchell was still trying to pick up a girl. "I'm Zach."

Ellis laughed again, before raising a brow and shaking her head. "…and I'm about six years older than you." The roar of the Indominus Rex somewhere in the distance was enough to put an immediate stop to any further joking and or flirting and Ellis nodded in the opposite direction to the one where the sound had come from. "We should get going."

"Who are you?" Gray asked as Ellis ushered him and Zach out of the clearing they found themselves in. He wasn't entirely sure that this blood covered girl with her serious eyes, rifle and raptor claws wasn't a figment of his imagination. She was like a prehistoric Lara Croft and he was pretty sure he was in love with her.

"I'm Ellis Grant, now get a move on."

* * *

 **A/N: Happy New Year everyone! My new years resolution is to get back into writing Insatiable, I am determined to see this fic through to completion. I have big plans for Ellis and the rest of this story so I am so excited for you to all see it come to fruition! Before I say anything else I want to say a massive thank you for over 100 reviews! This is a milestone I never thought that I would reach and I cannot express how thankful I am for the continued support that Ellis and this story receive. You are all too good to me! It has been a pretty long time since I've updated due to me getting a new job/other life dramas but I'm back and although this new chapter is short the gap between updates will not be as long next time I promise! As usual if you have time or if you'd like to please follow or leave a review as they are what motivates to keep writing. You can find Ellis/Insatiable edits on my tumblr (lydamartin) or on the Insatiable tumblr (jurassicinsatiable). Please feel free to come and chat to me whenever, and thank you again!**

 **p.s: New Year, New cover image! Massive thank you to Celeste (kisaageckos on tumblr bayareabeliever on here) for making it for me!**


	13. Chapter 13

The distant roars of the Indominus Rex made the leaves on the trees around them shake, and every so often Ellis could've sworn she felt the ground shudder beneath her booted feet, impact tremors, she figured, sent through the earth each time the incredibly large animal took a step. Deciding not to voice her theories about the weight of the animal that was undoubtedly ravaging its way through a herd of unsuspecting herbivores somewhere on the other side of the island Ellis ushered both of the boys forwards. She had only a mild notion of where it was she was headed, but her outward appearance gave no indication of her inner worries, she looked like she had the entire situation totally under control, despite the fact that she absolutely did not.

"It's more like millions of years." Gray mused, making sure to keep his voice quiet as not to attract any unwanted attention from any of the islands inhabitants.

"What are you talking about?" Zach snapped, a little way ahead of both his younger brother and Ellis.

Ellis frowned at Zach's tone of voice, and the way a smirk danced upon his lips when he turned to look at his brother, she hadn't grown up with any siblings but had she done she would have hoped to get along with them better than the Mitchell boys seem to.

"This claw," Gray held up the raptor claw that Ellis had handed him when they first met. "You said that it was thousands of years old, but it's really millions."

She smiled, giving a slight nod as she clambered over her second fallen tree of the day. Zach turned to offer her his hand, to aid her over the trunk of the tree, Ellis merely raised a brow point blank refusing his offer and making her own way over. She didn't wince when a shooting pain ran from the wound in her arm up to her shoulder, instead she turned her attention to Gray. "You know about dinosaurs?" She asked.

"He doesn't shut up about them, it's pretty annoying actually. His entire bedroom is covered with them." Zach commented dryly.

Gray, who had been making a conscious effort to stay as close to Ellis' side as he could without ever actually touching her, blushed and his gaze momentarily flickered to the leaf covered ground. Ellis, on the other hand, was beaming down at the short boy with his wet curls and adorable embarrassment. She was, however, quickly growing tired of Zach Mitchell and his attitude, she was the daughter of Alan Grant after all – and despite her paleontological breakthrough in the nurturing habits of dinosaurs, she had little to no remotely nurturing instincts herself. All Ellis had to do was get these kids off the island alive, then she never had to see them again, but if she could pass the time by talking shop with the youngest one then she would.

"Well," Ellis continued, readjusting the rifle on her shoulder before continuing. "I love dinosaurs; they're all I've ever known. My dad's a palaeontologist, and I guess you could say that I am too, though Asset Behavioural Analyst is my official title."

"Is your dad Alan Grant?" Grays voice was still quiet and Ellis didn't know if he was doing it to avoid attracting the attention of the Indominus Rex – that could no doubt smell them from miles away so really his attempts to remain undetected were in vain – or if he was simply trying to avoid being chastised yet again by his brother.

"Yeah, you heard of him?"

"I've read all his books, even the ones after he came to the island."

"Even those…" Ellis mused, raising her brows in mock surprise. It was no secret that Alan Grant's visit to the original Jurassic Park changed him, or at least his opinions on dinosaurs. Eric Kirby had put it perfectly; Alan had 'liked dinosaurs' before he'd visited Jurassic Park. The books he released after his return from the island were purely scientific, made up entirely of research; there wasn't an ounce of feeling in them, which was why so many people preferred his earlier works.

"So _Ellis…_ " Zach drawled, not bothering to look over his shoulder at the girl he was addressing, instead choosing to keep his gaze forward. He thought it made him look disinterested, alluring even, but all of his attempts to be completely irresistible flew straight over Ellis' head. "Not to sound rude or anything but do you actually have any idea where we're going?"

"Nope." Ellis mused, making both boys stop dead in their tracks. Gray looked up at her through large worried eyes and Zach turned to actually face her, his cool guy façade faltering and a young, scared boy shining through the cracks.

"Oh god, we're going to die. We're going to get eaten and die out here oh my god." Gray was mumbling incoherently now, pacing back and forth in the small clearing they found themselves in. He only stopped when Ellis physically grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a light shake.

"Hey, hey!" She whisper yelled. "You are _not_ going to get eaten, I'm not going to let anything happen to you okay?"

"That's what Zara promised Aunt Claire she'd do as well; forgive me for not believing another girl who promises to protect me on an island of monsters." Zach Mitchell scoffed, rubbing the back of his neck as he spoke.

Ellis' eyebrows knitted together into a frown, one that caused wrinkles to form across her forehead and her entire face appear older than she actually was. "Well forgive _me_ if I'm wrong but you are the one who ditched Zara, not the other way around. If you'd both actually done what you were told then you wouldn't be in this mess and I wouldn't be recreating history by getting two kids off an island they probably shouldn't even be on in the first place!"

Zach opened and closed his mouth multiple times as he attempted to come up with the perfect protest, but was beaten to it by Gray who had tears running down his plump cheeks. "It was Zach's idea to run away!" He sobbed; Ellis automatically released his shoulders from her – perhaps too tight – grasp and instead dropped down to her knees in front of him. It was becoming increasingly clear to the brunette that these two boys were only kids, scared kids that wanted nothing more than to go home and as much as it pained her to admit it she should probably start being a little nicer to them. Raising a hand she wiped a tear from his cheek and smiled softly at him tilting her head ever so slightly to the side before she spoke.

"Look," She said, addressing both of the boys now. "I'm sorry for yelling, it's not either of your faults that we're here. If it's anyone's it's Dr Wu's and I should probably have called that months ago…" Ellis sighed as she got to her feet once more, taking Gray's smaller hand in her own and giving it a light squeeze. "…and I do know where I'm going, sort of. See that over there?" She pointed through the trees; both boys moved to stand directly beside her and squinted in the direction she was pointing at.

"No" Zach said simply.

"The river?" Gray piped up, Ellis nodded.

"That river feeds into the Mosasaur habitat right in the middle of the park, follow the river and we get back to Main Street. That's my thoughts anyways; I just hope we're following it in the right direction."

"Oh really?" Zach spoke again. "Because I was hoping to get further into the island, you know where the real danger is." Ellis whipped her head round to look at him, ready the glare a hole right through his head but when she was met with his grinning face she couldn't help but laugh at his dire attempt at a joke, and simply shook her head in response. Gray – who still clung tightly to her hand – sniggered quietly.

The three of them didn't argue after that, in fact they ambled for another ten minutes or so quite happily through the trees. Gray, lured into a false sense of security by the fact that nothing had tried to eat him for well over half an hour, let go of Ellis' hand and ran a little way ahead of his brother and his saviour to explore their surroundings – Ellis had shouted ahead telling him to always stay within view of her, and Gray had smiled and given a thumbs up in response. They were part way through Ellis' turn at picking something in a game of eye-spy when the reality of their situation came crashing down on them like a tonne of bricks.

Somewhere, a lot closer than Ellis was entirely comfortable with, the Indominus Rex roared. The sound was terrifyingly loud and for a moment Ellis froze in the spot where she stood, remembering the dinosaur and how close it had been to ending her life just that afternoon. She remembered the stench of rotting flesh, the pain in her arm, the feel of the I-Rex's breath on her skin and the crippling fear in the notion that this was it, she was going to die. It was Zach that pulled her out of her own dark thoughts when he tugged on the sleeve of her flannel shirt, his other hand wrapped protectively around his younger brother who had run back towards them the moment he'd heard the Indominus.

"What do we do?" Zach whispered, flinching when the Indominus roared again, even closer this time.

Ellis blinked rapidly for a moment, her breath hitching in her throat as she looked down at the two helpless children, kids that she was supposed to save, kids that if her dad were here would probably already be tucked up safely at home by now. It took her a couple of milliseconds to snap herself out of it but eventually the brunette leaned down towards them, her expression serious and her voice even more so. "Okay boys…I'm gonna need you to run. We need to put as much distance between us and this thing as we can, okay, can you do that for me?"

Zach nodded quickly, turning towards his brother and giving the younger boy a slight shove in the direction that they'd all been heading. "Okay lets-"

"I can't…" Gray whimpered.

"You can!" Zach's words of encouragement seemed to be enough to kick his brother into gear and Gray swallowed hard before nodding. The younger boy turned on his heel and made off further into the dense foliage that surrounded him, Zach no more than a pace behind him. Ellis secured the rifle on her shoulder and the radio on the belt of her shorts before she too ran after the boys.

They ran as fast as they could, undeterred by the branches that scratched at their skin or the burning sensations that ran up their legs, they ran through the pain in their lungs that cried out in over exertion, begging for just a moment to catch a breath, to take in some air. Occasionally Gray would fall behind and Ellis would double back, grab him by the arm and drag him forwards alongside her, her injured arm was throbbing and she was almost certain that the wound she'd sustained earlier had opened itself up again, she could feel fresh blood trickling down her arm, making her flannel shirt stick to her skin once again but she ignored all that, she ignored it all and she ran as hard and as fast as she could, all the while keeping a tight hold on Gray.

She made a conscious effort to always keep the river on her left hand side, and to ensure that the boys did too. If they had any hope of getting out of this, following the river was their best bet and even running for her life she couldn't afford to lose sight of the rushing water. Getting turned around in the Isla Nublar jungle would be akin to signing her own death certificate, and she'd already promised the boys that they weren't going to die today – Ellis Grant never broke a promise.

The trio slowed and eventually stopped for two reasons, the first and most prominent being that the Indominus Rex did not appear to be chasing them, the impact tremors that surged through the leaf covered ground were becoming less and less frequent as each minute passed by and Ellis was pretty sure she could hear the chirps of birds and smaller animals in the trees that surrounded them – something that would absolutely not be the case is an apex predator was anywhere in the vicinity. The second, and perhaps the more interesting of the two, was the dilapidated building that they happened upon.

It was surrounded by trees, some which appeared to be growing through the very structure of the building that it was clear had once been a very impressive sight to behold. Opposite it the river widened into what Ellis could only describe as a large pond, one that was obviously manmade and that had once been well kept with a water feature taking pride of place in the middle of it. Moss, dirt and other flora covered the walls of the building, and thick vines had grown across the large ornate doors. Ellis dropped Gray's hand from her own and walked up the steps towards the once lavish entrance of the building, leaving the boys at the bottom staring up at her.

"What is this place?" Zach spoke, more of a thought to himself than a question but Ellis answered it nonetheless.

"The visitor centre." She read the words that were carved into the stone slab above the door, just below an intricate carving of the skull of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. She spoke again as she pulled on the vines that covered the doors, restricting them access to the building. "I think it's part of the old park, my dad told me about this place once when he'd had a bit too much to drink. He almost died in here, surrounded by raptors…"

Gray looked positively horrified at the bottom of the steps. "Velociraptors?"

Taking a moment away from clearing the debris Ellis glanced back towards the boys and offered them a grin. "They were all rounded up long before Jurassic World ever opened, don't worry, they're not still in there. Now if I could just…" She rammed her good shoulder against the door in an attempt to open it. The door creaked in response but otherwise did not move. "Open this door, we could get a look inside, maybe call for help?"

"Uh, Ellis?" Zach mumbled.

"What?" The brunette huffed as she charged the door once more.

"As much as I'm enjoying watching you try to open a door why don't we just…" His voice trailed off into silence and Ellis' dark eyes followed his pointing finger. He was pointing at a gaping hole in the side of the building, around it fallen scaffolding lay on the ground but otherwise it was a completely clear entrance into the visitors centre.

Zach smirked and Ellis rolled her eyes, hurrying down the steps once more and climbing over the fallen scaffolding before finally stepping into the large entrance hall of the building. "Well come on then!"

It didn't take the boys long to weigh up the pros and cons of inside versus outside, outside they were less likely to die when the building inevitably caved in on itself, but they were also a lot more likely to be eaten out there in the open. Inside provided them with shelter from the elements and the very animal they had just been running from, but the structure of the old visitors centre did look questionable at best - it was the decision that being crushed to death was a more desirable way to go than being eaten that saw the boys climbing over the fallen scaffolding and following Ellis into the entrance hall.

"Is that what I think it is?" Zach asked, pointing towards what appeared to be the bones of a dinosaur, and a very big one at that.

"It's a tyrannosaurus…" Gray breathed out, he'd been to enough museums and read enough books to recognise the skeleton of a tyrannosaurus rex when he saw one.

In the time it had taken the boys to wander in after her, Ellis had already headed further into the building and was currently crouched down over the very bones Zach was pointing to from the other side of the room. She picked one of the smaller metatarsals up and turned it over in her hands, surprised by the weight of it, or the lack thereof. "It's not real." She said, her tone laced with disappointment as she tossed the plaster cast bone to the ground. "Must have just been for decoration…can either of you see a light switch?"

Picking something up off the ground Zach turned it over in his hands. It was the remnants of a banner that had once read 'when dinosaurs ruled the earth'. "Gray have you still got those matches in your nerd purse?"

Gray frowned, "It's not a nerd purse it's a fanny pack." He muttered defiantly as he rifled through the small black bag that had been tied around his waist since the moment they left their parents at the airport back in America. When he pulled out the small pack of matches a smug smile flourished upon his soft features and he threw the matchbox in his brother's direction.

Lighting a match took a few attempts, they were still damp from the boys trip over the waterfall earlier that afternoon, but eventually Zach managed to get one lit long enough to ignite the banner that he'd tied around one of the leg bones of the plaster cast t-rex. Part of Ellis wanted to snatch the makeshift torch from him and stamp it out, that was a piece of history his was burning, something that her father had probably rolled his eyes at when he'd visited the island all those years ago and it was also something that the Indominus Rex would almost definitely be able to smell burning from miles away. Another part of her, however, was thankful for the light in the darkness, and much too intrigued by the building they currently found themselves in to be afraid – so she did nothing except follow the boys as they moved further into the visitors centre.

They wandered through a multitude of different rooms, each one lit up by the eerie flickering glow of the torch that Zach held above his head and each one completely overrun by the elements. Vines covered the once carpeted floors, grew up over desks and through the arms of chairs. The hairs on Ellis' arms stood on end as she walked through each room of the building that was essentially a ghost town. The abandoned laboratory was the room she found most interesting, because everything was exactly where it had been left twenty two years ago. A half drank cup of god only knows what lay untouched and moulded on one of the work benches, discarded latex gloves filled the trashcans that hadn't been emptied in years and there was even unfinished research strewn here and there. She picked up one clipboard and blew away the dust and debris, she instantly recognised the handwriting on the yellowed paper as that of Dr Henry Wu – she'd read enough of his reports to see her through to the end of her life and had involuntarily memorised his penmanship perhaps only a few weeks after accepting her new position at Jurassic World.

"Look at this!" Gray chirped from the other side of the room, Ellis took one last look at Wu's unfinished notes before placing the clipboard back down where she'd found it and moving across the laboratory to where Gray stood over an incubator. Standing on his tiptoes so that he could get a better reach, Gray leaned as far as he could into the incubator and grasped for what it was he had called her over to see. When he finally caught hold of it he pulled it gingerly from the spot it had called its home for over twenty years and held it up for Ellis to see. "It's an egg." He stated, despite it being completely obvious.

Stretching across him Ellis picked up another shell and inspected it in silent fascination. She'd never seen a dinosaur egg before, or rather an ostrich egg substituting as a dinosaur egg and an odd sensation of honour washed over her – this was where it had all began, Jurassic Park, Jurassic World, John Hammonds vision. Only a handful of people had seen this place, and she was one of them. "There's some notes over there," she explained, nodding towards the clipboard she'd put back down "that say they were growing velociraptors in here…"

"How?"

"Did you not watch the video on the boat?"

"Yeah we did, well I did…Zach was too busy staring at girls." Ellis smirked and on the other side of the room Zach merely shrugged, not willing to argue against something that was obviously true. "But I want you to tell me." Gray pressed, offering her an adorable smile.

"They started by extracting millions of years old dinosaur blood from the mosquitos that they found fossilised in amber, John Hammond owned amber mines all over the world and people thought he was mad for it because there's no money in amber anymore, but they were looking for these insects." Gray stared up at her, unblinking, immersed in what she was saying, Zach on the other hand had taken a seat on one of the stools on the opposite side of the room and was using a pencil to prod at a vine. Ellis continued despite only having the attention of one of them. "The dinosaur blood they extracted had gaps in the gene sequence and so Dr Wu and his team filled the gaps with the DNA of frogs because to their knowledge it was the most similar to the dinosaurs. After that they used phylogenetic mapping which enabled them to take an unknown strand of DNA and determine where it fit in the evolutionary sequence."

Gray's eyes widened and a puzzled expression etched itself onto his features. Ellis laughed softly as she placed the egg she'd been holding back into the abandoned incubator. "It helped them find out what kind of dinosaur each bit of extracted blood could make. It was revolutionary science back in its day, people, my dad even, were astounded by what Hammond and his scientists had managed to do. Anyway after they had the DNA they put it into unfertilized ostrich eggs where it grew and eventually hatched. Oh and these," She pointed to a small machine suspended just above the incubator "would fill the entire room with a humid mist, and a higher oxygen concentration up to about thirty-three percent. A Jurassic atmosphere, so when the dinosaurs finally hatched conditions were optimum for survival." She added finally, with a grin. She'd rambled the entire time she'd been talking so she wouldn't be surprised if Gray hadn't followed what she'd been saying, but he nodded nonetheless.

"That dinosaur that chased us, is that how they made that?"

Ellis shook her head no. "The Indominus Rex isn't like anything they made in the nineties, they were real dinosaurs – or as a real as they could be – this thing that Wu has created is a monster. The guy has let the power of his own science get to his head, I mean I'm not a psychiatrist but I'm pretty sure he's losing it."

"Fascinating." Zach muttered from the opposite side of the room, prodding the vine in front of him once more and stifling a yawn. "But maybe we should focus less on dusty fossils and more on getting some help?"

Gray frowned at his brother; he had been genuinely interested in everything Ellis had told him and he couldn't help but be a little irritated that Zach had put a stop to it. Ellis on the other hand knew that Zach had a point and so nodded. "Yeah alright come on then, there's got to be some sort of control room here."

Led by the light of the torch that Zach still held the three of them left the laboratory and continued on through the dusty, deserted hallways. They passed by a room filled with long tables, on the far side a table was littered with moulded foodstuffs, Ellis gagged quietly at the sight of it before turning her attention away from the canteen and towards the mural painted on the wall they were walking alongside. Zach reached out a hand, wiping away some of the dirt and grime from the wall to reveal the painting underneath, Ellis assumed that it was supposed to be of a velociraptor though it didn't look like any of the raptors she'd come to know and love since arriving on the island. Perhaps they'd painted it before they'd hatched any raptors, she thought.

"I found a car!" Gray grinned, popping his head through a door that lead away from the hallway they currently found themselves in. "Actually I found two!" He added, popping his head back through the doorway and beckoning for Ellis and Zach to follow him.

Ellis and Zach exchanged a glance before hurrying away from the painted wall and into the garage that Gray had disappeared into. The two cars were old, and just as grimy as everything else had been inside, and it took a few seconds for Ellis to recognise the yellow and green land cruisers as the same cars that she was originally driven from the boat to Main Street in, the ones that Masrani had explained had been salvaged from the original park – these two obviously hadn't made the cut. The pair of them immediately joined Gray in a silent search for a set of keys; they rifled through every drawer and looked on every shelf. Gray picked up a heavy set of goggles, but immediately put them back down when the lenses started moving and a mechanical noise erupted from headset. Ellis half frowned half laughed at his exaggerated response before carrying on her search.

"I found the keys." Zach announced, his voice a lot less enthusiastic than Ellis had expected. He was stood at the driver's side door of one of the land cruisers, his arm reaching in through the open window and turning the keys that had been left in the ignition. The engine did it's best to turn over when he turned the keys, but it was to no avail and eventually he stopped trying. "Battery's dead." He declared with a sigh.

"There were some jump leads in one of those drawers, maybe we could jump start it?" Ellis offered a suggestion.

"Jump start it with what exactly?" Zach didn't mean to snap, but he'd gotten his hopes up when he'd seen the cars and now it seemed as though they were all once again back at square one.

"I don't know…" Ellis ran a hand through her knotted hair and leant back against one of the workbenches on the far wall. She stared hard at the car in front of her, willing it to spontaneously start up, and mentally cursing herself for not taking a course in car mechanics alongside all of the other courses she studied during her time at Berkley.

"Guys…" Gray's voice was quiet, and both Zach and Ellis ignored it as they silently racked their brains in an attempt to come up with another way out of the jungle. "Guys!" He spoke again, a little louder and a little more forceful this time.

"What?" They snapped in unison.

"There was an abandoned buggy, out there, we passed it on the way in…maybe it has a battery, or we can use it to jump start the car?"

Ellis grinned, and Zach gave Gray a soft punch of affection in the arm. "Gray you're brilliant." She gushed, pressing a kiss to against his cheek. Before straightening up and placing her hands on her hips. "Ready to head back out there?"

The boys nodded in agreement. "Ready."

Less than a mile away Owen Grady and Claire Dearing trudged through the thick jungle, Claire was covered head to toe in dinosaur dung – something Owen had assured her would deter any animals from coming after her but then something he'd only covered himself with sparsely after watching with a smirk as the brunette lathered the vile smelling substance all over herself.

"You could have told me." Claire muttered irritably as she strode forward ahead of him, Owen cocked his head to the side, a lopsided grin illuminating his features as he admired her from behind – even covered in dinosaur faeces Claire Dearing was beautiful, though he would never admit it to her.

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked with a cheeky grin, holding his hands up in mock surrender when she turned back to glare at him. "Believe me you'll thank me when dinosaurs take one whiff of you and turn tail."

"Well forgive me for not falling over with gratitude."

"It's those shoes that will have you falling over I'll bet." His comment earned him another glare and he laughed gruffly once more.

"I'll have you know I can walk for miles in a good pair of heels, and these Mr Grady are an _excellent_ pair of heels."

"Oh I don't doubt it."

"Remind me why I didn't get in a jeep with Grant." Claire said, wrinkling her nose.

"Because you can't resist my company?"

Claire raised a perfectly shaped brow but otherwise did not respond. Instead she started to shout. "Hellooo. Hell-oooo! Zach? Gray! Are you out here?"

Owen tensed up, instantly uneasy about the noise she was making – it might bring the unwanted attention of the Indominus Rex – but a moment later he heard an answering shout. It was coming from the right, over by the river that the pair had been following in the hopes of returning to the main complex of the park. It was with great relief that Owen caught sight of a small boy waving from the other side of the river, filthy and somewhat damp but otherwise unscathed.

"Aunt Claire!" He shouted with a grin.

Ellis, who had been helping Zach remove the battery from the abandoned buggy that Gray had lead them to after they left the garage jumped up the moment she heard Gray shout. She instinctively abandoned the buggy and ran straight to Gray's side, dropping to her knees and giving him a soft shake – for the second time that day. "What did I tell you about keeping your voice down?" She chastised with a frown. "What are you shouting about anyways?"

"Look, across the river it's Aunt Claire!" Gray grinned again and Ellis turned away from him, she raised her hand to her forehead, shielding her dark eyes from what little sunlight broke through the canopy and squinting into the distance. On the other side of the river Owen Grady was already wading into the water that came up well above his waist. Ellis grinned at the sight of him.

"Owen?" She choked out in disbelief.

He waded through the icy cold rushing water to the other side of the river and took Ellis' hand when it was offered to him to help him climb up the muddy bank. "My work wife…" He breathed out, moving strands of matted hair from her face in order to get a better look at her. "You found the kids, looks like I owe you ten bucks."

"We didn't make a bet."

"No I made a bet, a mental bet, with myself that I would find them before you did. You won, of course you did, you're brilliant that way." Ellis gave him a swift shove in the chest and he feigned injury before the pair finally embraced in a tight hug – thankful to be back together again. There was only so much conversation with teenagers Ellis could handle, and as much as Owen liked looking at Claire Dearing, her incessant whining had been starting to grate on him.

Speaking of Claire.

"Uh, excuse me!" The redhead bellowed from the other side of the river. Ellis made a mental note of the woman's appearance, she was far more unkempt and bedraggled than Ellis had ever seen her, but she was still wearing her heels, Grant had to give her props for that.

Owen placed his hands on his hips and sighed. "I'm going to have to go across and get her aren't I?"

"Yep." Ellis mused with a smirk.

"Absolutely." Gray added.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey guys! Over 250 follows and over 21,000 views on Insatiable now! I am absolutely blown away! Thank you so so so much! This chapter was pretty fun to write, I'm enjoying Ellis' transition from girl whose not all that into kids to girl that doesn't actually mind them. I also absolutely loved writing about the visitors centre! As usual I hope you enjoyed the chapter, if you have the time please please please leave a review because they are the highlight of chapter updates for me. I love to know peoples opinions on Ellis and Insatiable as a whole! Also don't hesitate to follow if you want, the more the merrier! As usual if you want to see Ellis/Insatiable updates then head over to the Insatiable tumblr blog (jurassicinsatiable) or my personal blog which is (lydamartin). Thank you again!**


	14. Chapter 14

The way Owen fireman lifted Claire over his shoulder and carried her across the river did her dignity absolutely no favours, but it served to be quite entertaining for her nephews and Ellis, who stood on their side of the river bank and watched as she thrashed about slung over Owen's shoulder like she didn't weigh a thing. When he finally placed her back down on solid ground she took a moment to steady herself before standing up straight and flattening out her now very off-white skirt with a huff.

"Mr Grady…" She began and Ellis rolled her eyes.

"O-wen." Owen cut in, correcting her on his name for perhaps the millionth time since the pair had met.

The redhead opened her mouth to snap something back at him and Ellis braced herself for an onslaught of another one of Claire Dearing's speeches. To her surprise, and to Owen's, the speech never came. It was as though a light switch had been flicked on inside Claire's head and after a brief moment of silence she lunged forward towards her two unsuspecting nephews. She dropped to her knees and pulled them into a tight hug. Zach yelped in alarm whilst Gray more or less squeaked and Ellis took an awkward step away from the family reunion, partly because she was uncomfortable with such obvious displays of affection but mostly because whatever it was Claire had smeared all over her smelt absolutely vile and Ellis didn't want to add vomiting to her long list of unsavoury things that had already happened to her today.

"Where did you go?" Claire breathed into the boy's hair, placing a kiss on either one's head individually before pulling away from them. She looked at them seriously, a frown causing a crease to form between her brows. "Why didn't you come back?" She asked, her voice a little more stern than it had been in her previous question. "I told you to stay with Zara."

Zach pulled away from his aunts vice like grip and ran a hand through his hair in a half-hearted attempt to style it – though his efforts were completely in vain given that his dark locks were completely matted with mud and whatever debris he'd walked through whilst exploring the visitors centre. "Hanging out with Zara was boring; she only took us to the kid's exhibits." He grumbled with a frown.

Ellis scoffed quietly, earning herself a glance from everyone. "What?" She asked defensively, before shaking her head when Claire raised her brows. "I'm just saying if they were bored at the petting zoo they certainly aren't bored out here." At her comment Owen smirked before quickly folding his arms tight against his chest and shifting his gaze to stare intensely at the ground the moment the fiery redhead threw a glare in his direction.

"Well…" Claire began as she clambered back to her feet. "You're both very lucky that Ellis found you. I don't know what I would've done if anything had happened to you, or what your mother would have done to me for that matter." With that Claire glanced over her shoulder towards Ellis and offered the brunette a small smile. Ellis nodded her head curtly, despite the fact that on the inside she was losing her mind – did Claire Dearing, known around the park as Satan in a kitten heel, actually just acknowledge that Ellis Grant had done a good thing this afternoon, was that smile a silent thanks? If they hadn't had been in such a life or death situation Ellis didn't doubt that she would have made some sort of comment, but given that they were very much in a life or death situation she decided against it.

"Okay," Owen cleared his throat gruffly, and the rest of them turned their attention to him. "As much as I hate to break up this family reunion, we should probably be getting back to the control room and try to figure out a way to fix this mess." He jerked his head as though signalling a direction, despite the fact that he didn't really know where they were or where they should really be headed – he hoped his false confidence wasn't as transparent as it felt.

Ellis nodded in agreement, glancing towards the two young boys who were both staring intently at her, waiting for her to tell them what to do. Owen Grady outranked Ellis in many ways, but to the Mitchell brothers whom she'd haphazardly stumbled upon earlier that afternoon; Ellis Grant was the one to watch. "Did you boys manage to get the battery out of the buggy?"

The two brothers nodded in perfect synchronisation. "Yep." Gray beamed. Beside him Zach smiled at his brother.

"Gray did most of the work." Zach lied, nudging his brother ever so slightly with his elbow as he spoke.

"My hero." Ellis said with a grin, ruffling Gray's hair up a little before continuing. "C'mon lets go grab it and get the hell out of here."

Gray grinned and turned on his heel, ready to bounce off towards the buggy that they'd abandoned a little way into the forest. He stopped however, when Zach's hand reached out and rested on his brother's shoulder, preventing the younger boy from getting ahead of himself and running off on his own. It was a quick and silent exchange that Ellis was almost certain only she had noticed, but she smiled nonetheless and followed the boys towards the tree line without another word.

Behind the trio, Owen and Claire exchanged a glance. Claire half considered questioning whether or not they should be putting their lives in the hands of Ellis Grant, it was no secret that she thought the girl was overrated in more ways than one, but given that Ellie had singlehandedly found her nephews and reunited Claire with them, the operations manager didn't technically have a leg to stand on. Whilst she mulled these thoughts over, Owen held out his hand, a gentlemanly gesture that signalled for her to step off first. Claire's azure gaze flickered to his grubby hand and she rolled her eyes as she strutted off after her nephews and their saviour.

"So…can I just?" Owen called after the four of them, lifting his knees high as he attempted to step over as much of the tall grass they were stood amongst as he could in one go. "Did I hear right? You guys found a buggy out here? A buggy that you plan to take the battery out of?"

"Mmmhmmm…" Ellis confirmed, not bothering to glance over her shoulder in the direction of her best friend.

"And what exactly do you plan to do with the battery once it's out?"

"Put it in the Jeep…duh." Gray Mitchell had stopped just shy of the tree line, his hands on his hips as he waited for the adults to catch up to him.

"Duh." Ellis mimicked, glancing over her shoulder towards Owen now whose mouth was slightly agape in a mixture of shock and astonishment.

"Well you guys certainly have been busy." He stated after a moments bemused silence.

"Yeah, I mean covering yourself in dinosaur excrement is fun and all." Ellis gestured between Owen and Claire before giving a light shrug, unable to hide the smirk that danced upon her blossom pink lips, illuminating her blood and grime covered features. "But we were more interested in finding a way out of the jungle." Her voice was laced thick with sarcasm, and Claire frowned at the sound of it. Owen on the other hand laughed, perhaps a little too loudly given their current situation, and clapped an arm around Ellis' slender shoulders.

"I missed that charm of yours Elle; it's without a doubt your best feature." With his arm slung lazily around his best friends shoulders Owen carried on towards the trees, both him and Ellis, raising their knees high to clear the long grass, crushing it beneath their booted feet with each confident stride.

Behind them Claire remained rooted to the spot, her lower lip pouting out ever so slightly as she watched her nephews, Owen and perhaps her least favourite person on earth disappear into the trees without so much as a second glance back at her to make sure she was following, or hadn't been eaten. After a moments self-pity, the operations manager puffed out her chest, re-rolled the sleeves of her white shirt up above her elbows and hopped her way through the grass after them.

The buggy that the boys had found was a little way into the forest, wrapped around a vine covered tree which's trunk was so thick that it dwarfed the buggy that was embedded into the side of it. Sparks spat periodically from the front end of the vehicle and the driver's side seat was slashed to such an extent that it resembled a handful of bloody ribbons. When the group arrived at the clearing where it stood, Gray reached down to retrieve a white hardhat, emblazoned with the Jurassic World logo and splattered with the blood of its owner, who was nowhere to be seen. He began to shake, the crippling realisation of what was happening and the situation he presently found himself in quickly setting in. Gray Mitchell wanted nothing more than to be back home in America, enjoying his Christmas holidays with his family – hell at this point he'd take his parents getting a divorce over the possibility of being eaten alive and ending up like the man or woman who had once worn this hat.

Something moved in the trees, a bird or small mammal rustling in the leaves. Everyone's heads whipped towards the source of the sound, but they were met with nothing, a terrifying emptiness that threatened all of them. "You think it's out there?" Zach asked quietly. Gray sniffed, fighting back tears and Zach hurried to say something else. "I mean I know…for a fact…that it is definitely not out there. Right, we're totally safe."

Ellis stepped forwards, gently prying the hard hat from Gray's trembling hands. "Right," she agreed with Zach though her words were directed towards his younger brother. "Let's put this down shall we?"

"O-okay." Gray agreed, and though Ellis removed the hat from his hands he continued to stare down at them, still shaking.

Ellis didn't take the time to examine the hardhat, she didn't bother to look at the way it had caved inwards at the centre or the way the vibrant crimson blood stood out so starkly against the white of the hat, even now despite it being covered in dirt and grime. Instead she tossed it aside, into one of the many fern bushes that surrounded the five of them. _Out of sight out of mind_ , she hoped. Glancing over her shoulder towards Claire, Ellis nodded her head towards Gray, signalling silently for his aunt to go over and comfort him.

At the signal Claire unfolded her arms and stood up a little straighter, both of her eyebrows rising slightly in silent questioning. _Me?_

Ellis narrowed her chocolate brown eyes at Claire's response, of course she meant her. How many other aunts did Gray have roaming around the Isla Nublar rainforest? She nodded slowly and took a few small steps away from a still trembling Gray.

Claire Dearing stepped up, flicking a stray strand of her auburn hair from her face before marching forwards towards her youngest nephew. Gray must have sensed her presence because the moment she was within touching distance, he'd buried his small face in her shirt, his trembling slowly fading away as the tentatively wrapped her arms around his small frame, stroking his back tenderly. Ellis smiled and when Claire mouthed a silent _thank you_ to her she nodded curtly before turning back towards Owen and Zach who were bent over the bonnet of the buggy a few feet away.

"I thought you already got it out?" She asked.

"Just…about…one more…ahh got it!" Owen grinned as he and Zach straightened up, triumphant smiles spread across their grubby faces. Owen handed the battery to Zach who struggled for a moment with the weight of it before holding it up proudly towards Ellis.

"Well then, let's get the hell out of here."

The second trip through the old visitors centre was considerably shorter than their first. Claire had seen it all before, and even if she hadn't, dusty dinosaur relics weren't exactly something she'd find enthralling. Owen on the other hand was much more interested but was ushered straight through to the garage by Ellis he prodded him hard in his back whenever he so much as slowed his pace. 'We can come back if we survive this' she'd assured him, a promise he had very few intentions of letting her forget if and when they got themselves and everyone else safely off the island. Without their makeshift torch to light the way this time, the five of them tentatively followed the footprints that they themselves had left behind earlier that afternoon, squinting in the darkness before being near blinded by the streaming sunlight when they finally located the garage.

At the sight of the two Jeep Wranglers, Owen let out of a low whistle of appreciation. He was about to take the battery from Zach's hands and get to work, but before he got a chance to, the sixteen year old had made his way to the front of one of the Jeeps and began tinkering away under the hood. His brother, who had finally managed to compose himself enough to step more than a couple of inches away from his aunt, watched with silent curiosity.

"You remember when we fixed up Grandpa's old Malibu right?" Zach asked with a grin, holding out a wrench for his brother who took it with a beaming smile.

"Yeah." Gray agreed, quickly moving to join his brother under the hood of the car. Claire watched the pair with a small smile as she leant against a work bench, taking the moment of quiet to rest her feet.

On the other side of the garage, Ellis heaved herself up onto a bench, grateful to be off her feet for what felt like the first time in years. "They're good kids." She mused, to no one at all.

Owen, who had been rifling through the jackets that were hung on hooks on the far side of the room turned to face his best friend, holding up a fluorescent yellow waterproof parka against his chest. "Does it suit me?" He smirked, laughing when Ellis nodded. "I thought you weren't that into kids anyways…"He continued, joining Ellis by jumping up onto the bench beside of her, the pair of them watching the boys work diligently away.

"I'm not…or I wasn't, they're not terrible I guess."

"Who'd have thought it, Ellis Robyn Grant does have a maternal instinct after all…and not only with velociraptors!"

Ellis didn't respond, instead she continued to watch the boys tinker away with the Jeep on the far side of the room. It was at that point, when he was looking at her, happy to have his very best friend by his side in a situation like this, that Owen noticed the blood that soaked the plaid sleeve of her right arm. Of course she was covered head to toe in blood, not all of it her own but all of it dried a dirty brown, but the blood on her arm was still vibrantly red and decidedly fresher than anything else she was covered in. "Ellie, are you hurt?" Owen asked seriously, using the nickname her father used more often than anyone and instantly pulling Ellis from her daydream as the sound of it.

"Hmm?" She asked, her gaze following Owen's as he nodded towards her arm. "Oh this, yeah it's nothing. From back the paddock, it's not really closing what with all the running for my life and everything. It'll be fine."

Owen didn't smile at her light-hearted response the way she had hoped he would, instead his jaw clenched tightly and his lips formed a thin line. Despite her flippant reaction to his question, Owen couldn't shake the feeling that with Ellis bleeding that heavily he was essentially a man, or woman, down and it certainly wouldn't be long before the Indominus Rex caught her sent and tracked the five of them to their current location. "You shouldn't be in this situation in the first place." He muttered through gritted teeth. "None of you should…Masrani…I'm gonna…"

The rumbling sound of the Jeep Wrangler's diesel engine firing to life cut Owen off mid-sentence, and rather than finish, he and Ellis jumped down off the bench they'd been sat on in perfect synchronisation.

"Shot gun"

"I'll drive!"

Gray and Zach Mitchell spoke at precisely the same time, each one whipping his head towards the other with a wicked grin before looking towards the adults with hopeful expressions.

"Nice try hot shot." Owen grinned, clapping Zach on the back and motioning his head towards the rear of the Jeep. "But you'll be riding back seat with your brother and her royal highness."

Ellis pressed her lips together in a half-hearted attempt to suppress her smirk, but Claire saw it anyways and huffed, clambering into the backseat alongside her nephews. Owen settled into the driver's seat and soon afterwards Ellis had climbed into the passenger's seat alongside him, her rifle placed nose down and resting gingerly between her bare knees.

"Hit the gas," she ordered Owen, who nodded and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. "Something tells me that thing heard this start up." She said a little quieter, Owen glanced at her through the corner of his eye but didn't respond, choosing instead to focus his full attention on pulling the vehicle out of the garage and heading out further into the rainforest.

Not too far in the distance, the sound of an engine coming to life and of branches being crunched beneath the heavy duty 4x4 tires made the Indominus Rex turn away from the Pachycephalosaurus whose neck she had just snapped. Around the animal lay an entire herd, slaughtered and blood stained. The Indominus Rex had made no attempts to make a meal out of any of the animals it had come across that afternoon, and had instead taken to killing for sport, gaging to see which animal, if any, would dare fight back.

The Indominus lifted its huge head, sniffing at the air, catching the scent of fresh blood, even here surrounded by more than a dozen bloody carcasses. Knowing that this injured animal was not far away and recognising it immediately as one of the types of creatures that had locked her away her entire life. The ginormous animal set off then, following the scent of Ellis Grant's blood like a hound as it thundered its way through the Isla Nublar rainforest.

Even in the Jeep Ellis felt the tremors that shook that ground each time the Indominus Rex took a step. Owen felt it too and the pair glanced at one another as he drove as quickly through the forest as was physically possible. Branches of the trees that surrounded them whipped against the metal body of the Jeep, snapping from their trunks and flying off in various directions. Mud splashed up as the tires spun around causing Owen to flick on the windscreen wipers.

"We have definitely got to go faster…" Ellis muttered under her breath as the impact tremors became more and more frequent.

* * *

Back in the control room Lowery Cruthers punched a sequence of keys on his keyboard, bringing up a heat signature map of the entire park. Main Street lit up a vibrant red, each of the parks visitors showing up as an individual red spot that had gradually merged into one much larger one. Simon Masrani stood behind him, and Vivian sat to his right, all three of them staring up at the large screen in the centre of the control room.

"Every time this thing kills it moves further South…It's headed right for the park." Lowery explained.

"Why would she come here?" Masrani asked, Vivian and Lowery exchanged a glance before turning towards the CEO.

"It can sense thermal radiation," Vivian repeated what Ellis had explained earlier that afternoon. "…and our emergency measures just put all the warm bodies in one place."

On the other side of the control room the elevator beeped, signalling someone's arrival. All three of them turned in time to see Vic Hoskins step out when the elevator doors slid slowly open. He carried himself with an air of self-importance, and when the security guard stepped forwards to request he show his identification, Vic didn't even give him a chance to speak.

"In-Gen." He stated simply, holding up his badge and walking straight past the security guard without even bothering to look at him. Lowery frowned, he'd never met this man before, but he already didn't like him. "Hoskins." Vic introduced himself, speaking to Simon rather than to Lowery or Vivian.

Simon Masrani straightened up, pulling on the ends of his expensive suit jacket to smooth it out before he chose to reply. "I know who you are." He responded coolly.

"Then you know why I'm here." Hoskins crossed the room, moving to stand behind Vivian, all but squaring up to Masrani who stood his ground. "I've been working for two years on an application for those raptors…they can hunt, and kill that creature."

Masrani mulled over Vic's statement for a moment before he finally spoke. "Your programme was to test their intelligence…"

"That was Grant and Grady's programme, and they succeeded and in the process we learned something, they follow orders. See the solution to your crisis is standing right in front of you." Hoskins stood up a little taller, puffing up his chest in a subconscious display of dominance over the CEO, a sly smile flourishing upon his greasy features.

"Let me be as clear as I can." Simon Masrani spoke slowly, as though he were explaining something of the upmost simplicity to a very young child. "No velociraptors are going to be set loose on this island." Behind him, Lowery Cruthers fist pumped beneath his desk.

Hoskins laughed darkly, shaking his head and turning away from Masrani. The plump man placed one hand on his hip, the other he pointed at Simon, wagging his chubby finger inches from his face. "You're out of your mind." He moved to point towards the large screen in the centre of the room. "What are you going to do with all these people? You've got twenty thousand people here, hmmm, what are you going to do?" He asked. "They have no place to go. That thing is a killing machine." He took a threatening step towards Masrani once more. "…and it will not stop."

Lowery glanced from the screen towards the two men fighting for control of the room and the respect of the people in it. He pursed his lips together in frustration. He didn't like Hoskins, that much he knew for certain, but he had to admit that the man had a point. There were over twenty thousand people on this island; Ellis Grant being one of them, and the longer the Indominus Rex was roaming free the more likely it was that not all of them were going to make it off the island alive.

"Okay, I intend to personally look into your project to determine its viability…within the moral principles of this company."

Lowery clasped his hands together, nodding slowly at his boss' comeback. Vivian simply stared at the two men in confusion and a silent questioning about why she chose to actually come to work this morning.

"Okay boss." Hoskins nodded slowly. "What's your next move?"

* * *

It took less than ten minutes for Masrani to have the helicopter prepped and ready for take-off, and two members of ACU climbed into the back alongside the M1-34 which had been bought on the premise that it would only be used in extreme circumstances. Today seemed to fit the criteria for its use and so the ACU officers, both ex-services checked and double checked every inch of it, making sure that if today was the one and only day it would get to do its thing, it was going to do it with power and precision.

Masrani, closely followed by Vivian, walked up the concrete steps to the helipad. Vivian held her fingers to the earpiece in her right ear, desperately trying to listen through the static. "Sir I can't get a hold of your instructor." She called after Masrani who removed his grey suit jacket and began rolling up the sleeves of his lilac shirt.

"Never mind." He assured her. "He's likely caught up in the evacuation." Simon handed Vivian his jacket and flashed a reassuring smile.

"Are you sure there is nobody else who can fly a helicopter?" Her mousy blonde hair whipped around her face in the wind created by the rotary blades of the helicopter that lay waiting just a few feet away from the pair of them.

Masrani stopped just shy of the chopper, secured his sunglasses on his face and glanced back over his shoulder towards her with confidence. "We don't need anyone else." With that he took the helmet that was offered to him by one of the ACU team already sat inside, he turned away from Vivian and climbed aboard, leaving her staring slightly open mouthed as she watched him start up the engine.

* * *

The Jeep hurtled through the rainforest as fast as Owen could safely weave in and out of the trees, with the Indominus Rex not far behind them. Closing in with each ginormous step it took. In the back seat Gray Mitchell sat between his older brother and his aunt, his small face peering through wide eyes out the rear window, watching the trees move as something enormous ploughed its way through them. Zach stared straight ahead, the colour drained from his skin and his finger nails digging into the musty leather of the seat. Claire Dearing was doing her very best to get Gray to turn and face the front, assuring him that the Indominus was not going to catch up to them, despite not believing a word of what she was saying herself.

Up front, Ellis' radio crackled with static. It had been completely silent for so long that she'd almost forgotten that she was wearing it. Retrieving it from the waist line of her jean shorts she pressed her thumb hard against the transmission button. "Lowery?" She shouted in to the small microphone.

The radio in her hand crackled a few more times before finally, after what felt like an eternity, a familiar voice blared out of the speaker. "Ellis is that you?" Lowery asked. In the control room he searched through the motion sensor feeds like a man possessed, flicking through the images at lightning speed before finally settling on one of an old Jeep Wrangler. He squinted his eyes at the image, wondering how in the hell Ellis had got her hands on one of the Jeeps from the original park before a smile illuminated his features – she was alive, and from the looks of things she was no longer alone. He had never doubted her, but he had been worried.

"Yeah, yeah it's me!" Ellis laughed into the radio. Beside her Owen grinned, reaching his right arm across to take the radio from her.

"Hey lover boy we're all here…with minors in tow so keep it PG." He teased, and feigned injury when Ellis smacked him on his muscled arm, taking the radio back from him.

"Lowery, we found her. South of the gyrosphere valley…" Ellis spoke clearly into the radio, hoping that in telling Lowery and the rest of the control room operatives where the Indominus Rex was, it may make actually escaping the hybrid possible, or at the very least a little easier. "Between the old park and the aviary."

"Wait," Lowery's voice crackled out of the receiver. Even with the static it was clear he was less than impressed. "Are you following the dinosaur?"

"Technically she's following us. Get ACU out here, real guns this time…"

Lowery stared up at the image of the Jeep racing through the forest. "ACU is air born they took the helicopter!"

"Who's flying it?" Claire leant forwards from the back seat, resting her elbows on the back of Ellis' chair.

The hum of helicopter rotary blades silenced everyone, and when the shadow of the chopper loomed over them Gray squealed in excitement. "They came for us!" He chirped gleefully, turning to his brother with a wide grin. "We're going to be okay!"

The Indominus Rex had seen the flying contraption too, and as the men on the helicopter shot live ammunition down at her, annihilating whatever trees or shrubbery happened to be in the way the creature roared a deafening roar. The Indominus Rex surged forwards, straying from its course of following the Jeep and heading instead for the large glass dome that acted as the Jurassic Park aviary, housing the parks collection of pteranodons and pterodactyls. She weaved this way and that, narrowly missing the shells that rained down on her from the helicopter up above.

Owen slowed the Jeep to a halt just in time for the five of them to watch the Indominus Rex crash its way straight through the tempered glass walls of the aviary. Almost as soon as it had done so the sky came to life. Out of the hole made by the hybrid came a wave of flying dinosaurs that blotted out the light in the sky like a thick smoke.

"Stay inside." Owen ordered everyone as he climbed out of the Jeep. Naturally no one listened to him and he rolled his eyes when Ellis clambered out of the passenger side door, closely followed by Claire and both of her nephews who all stared upwards at the blanket of darkness that covered the sky.

Around them chaos reigned, trees burned as bright orange flames licked their way up the trunks and into the canopy, smoke billowed around them and the squawking of the pterosaurs was near deafening.

Ellis wasn't looking at the dinosaurs that swooped over her head, flying towards god knows what. Instead she watched the aviary, and the Indominus Rex that was still thrashing about inside, doing her best to clamp the straggling pterosaurs between her strong jaws. The helicopter swooped low and the gust of wind it created caused Ellis' dirty brown hair to fly wildly around her face, sticking to her lips and obscuring her vision. She pushed the strands aside and watched as pterosaurs flew directly towards the helicopter which swerved to avoid them but inevitably was unable to do so. The chopper began to spiral, smoke erupting from it in billowing clouds. Claire gasped, bringing a hand up to cover her lips as the helicopter took one final spin before crashing through the centre of the aviary in a ball of flames and shattered glass.

All five of them were silent for a moment, the only sounds being that of the pterosaurs and the bellowing roar of the Indominus Rex. "We have to go down there; we have to save Mr Masrani…" Claire had tears streaming down her porcelain cheeks and she took a tentative step forwards. Ellis spun on the spot, stretching out her hands and placing them firmly on either one of Claire's shoulders, stopping the redhead in her tracks. Ellis glanced at Owen, whose expression was serious. They spoke without having to speak at all and whilst he left Ellis to tend to Claire, he ushered the boys back into the Jeep. "We've got to help him. We've got to see if he's okay." The redhead babbled, her words all rolling into one as they tumbled from her full lips.

"Claire…" Ellis spoke quietly, keeping her voice calm and locking her dark gaze with Claire's cerulean one. "Claire listen to me, there's nothing we can do for Simon now." Claire shook her head defiantly, refusing to listen to or believe what Ellis was trying her best to tell her. "We have to get back to the park; we have to get your nephews on a boat back to their mom and dad okay?" When she was met with silence, Ellie gave Claire a light shake. "Claire, are you listening to me?"

"Yes." Claire replied, her voice was quiet but the tears had stopped. It was as though someone had flicked a switch inside of her and her moment of weakness was over. She lifted her chin and stared Ellis in the eye. "I'm ready."

A small smile danced on Ellis' lips and she nodded. "You absolutely are." She dropped her hands from the redhead's shoulders and waited for Claire to climb into the Jeep alongside her nephews before climbing into the passenger seat herself.

Owen pressed hard on the accelerator once more and the Jeep surged forwards. He kept one eye ahead of them, and one on the pterosaurs that filled the sky. They all seemed to be heading in the same direction, and as he followed them Owen could only hope that they were headed towards the centre of the park. The Jeep hurtled through the maintenance roads at a speed that defied every single one of the speed limit signs that were dotted frequently on the sides of the dirt tracks they were driving along. When they finally reached a gate Ellis grabbed the radio once more.

"Lowery could you get them to open the West gate?" She asked, leaning forwards and looking up through the wind-shield at the pterosaurs which flew through the sky in exactly the same direction they were headed.

"Done." Lowery replied simply. In the control room he hit a button and the large West gate began to slowly swing open. It was just about wide enough for the Jeep to fit through when they hurtled through it, though not wide enough that it didn't knock off the passenger side wing mirror.

"Owen!" Ellis chastised her best friend as she whipped her head around just in time to see the wing mirror roll to a halt on the floor about twenty yards from them. A look of confusion flourished upon Owen's face and he turned to her with a frown.

"What?"

"This Jeep is a classic." Ellis stated irritably. "Show it a little more respect."

"Oh I'm sorry; I was a little preoccupied by the _flying dinosaurs_ that are chasing us." His voice was laced with sarcasm and she couldn't help but smirk at his response.

The Jeep rolled to a stop on one of the side streets that led up to Main Street and the Hammond Creation Lab. Ellis retrieved her rifle from between her legs and stepped out of the vehicle. Owen grabbed his own shot gun from its holstered position between his shoulder blades and followed suit, climbing out of the Jeep. Claire and the Mitchell brothers were not far behind, and as chaos unfolded on Main Street, with pterosaurs picking off park visitors one by one with expert precision, the five of them stepped cautiously into the breach.

"Is everybody ready?" Ellis asked, tucking her rifle into her shoulder and readying herself to shoot anything that dared to come towards them.

"Ready." They all agreed in unison and with that the five of them, headed by Owen and Ellis, stepped on to Main Street.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm BACK! I know this happens every time, I disappear for months on end and then come back with promises to update more regularly. All I can say is that this time I really am hoping it's true. I want to update as regularly as possible because I want to see this fic all the way through to the end. Thank you so much to the people who have been reading this story in my absence, it was actually reading through your reviews that made me want to start writing again. You guys are the greatest and I cannot thank you enough for sticking with Ellis and her story. As usual if you could please leave a review that would be fantastic. Head over to my Insatiable blog on tumblr to see edits for Ellis and this story (jurassicinsatiable) or my private tumblr (lydamartin) where I'll be posting about Insatiable and my other fanfictions as well. Follow/fave if you so desire and I will hopefully have another update for you all soon!**


	15. Chapter 15

_"_ _Ladies and gentlemen, due to a containment anomaly, all guests must take shelter immediately."_ The automated voice of a woman repeatedly blasted out over the loud speakers. A warning siren blared, although it was drowned out by the sound of heavy footsteps pounding against the tarmac of Main Street, by the screeches of the pteradons, and the screaming of unsuspecting park visitors who were under an aerial attack.

Rifle tucked securely against her shoulder, Ellis stared down the barrel of the gun as they all took their first tentative steps into the chaos. People were running in all directions, hands waving above their heads as though batting away a persistent fly. But the pteradons that soared above their heads were so much more dangerous than that. Ellis narrowed her eyes, aiming for a pterodactyl as it swooped down towards a family of three. Her finger hovered against the trigger for a fraction of a second, as the PETA supporting animal lover inside of her screamed in protest, before she weighed up her options and made the shot. It was clean and precise, a direct headshot that sent the pterodactyl with its fifteen foot wingspan gliding to an abrupt halt as it crashed headfirst through the glass window of a jewellery store.

"Nice." Owen whistled, spinning on his heel to put down a pterosaur that was headed in their direction.

There were people running in all directions, some headed into the shops and restaurants that lined Main Street, some headed further into the compound towards the Hammond Creation Lab and others ran with no real direction in mind at all, simply running for their lives. Ellis and Owen spotted a child, a little girl, cowering beneath a table, at almost the exact same moment and rather than both surge forward to grab her, Owen readjusted his gun against his shoulder and nodded at Ellis. "I'll cover you." He assured her.

Ellis nodded silent agreement, lowering her weapon and slinging its strap over her shoulder. She ducked as a pteradon swooped down to grab her and missed by only a fraction of an inch, and made her way as quickly as she could through the throngs of people that crushed through the street. When she reached the table she crouched down, holding a hand out towards the little girl whose tears were falling hot and heavy down her rounded cheeks.

"Come on, it's okay. Look it's okay just take my hand…" Ellis' voice was surprisingly calm given the situation, and it was this soothing tone and air of confidence that made the infant trust her. A small, sticky hand clasped Ellis' in a vice like grip and once she had a hold of her Ellis scooped the girl up into her arms, holding her head against her shoulder. "Close your eyes." She urged the little girl, who did as she was told and buried her face into Ellis' chest. She carried her back towards the group, where Claire stood with Zach and Gray's hands held tightly in either one of her own and Owen's gun was pointed upwards towards their assailants in the sky.

It had taken the Asset Containment Unit longer than Ellis had thought to assemble and come out in force, and she frowned when she realised that the guns they were carrying were none lethals. When her injured arm started to protest at the weight, Ellis shifted the toddler onto her hip. "We can't stay out here Owen, we've not got nearly enough ammo to hold our own and something tells me this little lady wants to be reunited with her mom." The toddler sniffed against Ellis' chest, which the brunette took as confirmation of her statement.

Owen's jaw was tight, and he nodded reluctantly. He didn't want to leave the front line when there were still so many people that needed saving, but the four people that surrounded him – and one added toddler – were his main priority, and he had to make sure they were safe.

"Isabella!" A woman's voice rang clear through the crowds and the child lifted her head from Ellis' chest, looking this way and that at the sound of her name.

"Mama!" She shouted a response.

Ellis whipped her head around just in time to see a woman with tan skin and a pretty floral dress come hurtling towards her. Her outfit was entirely inappropriate for running for your life from dinosaurs, but Ellis didn't suspect that that's what the woman had planned for when she woke up at the park resort hotel this morning. The woman held out her arms, and Isabella did too, making small grabbing motions with her hands. When her mother was close enough, Ellis handed Isabella over, silently thankful to no longer be bearing her weight.

"Aye dios mio, mija. Me alegra que estas bien." Isabella's mother moved strands of her daughters dark curls away from her rounded face, inspecting the infant for any signs of damage before hugging her tightly. Ellis half smiled at the reunion, and when Isabella's mother finally looked at the Grant girl she nodded gratefully. "Gracias." She said, "…thank you." She added quickly.

Ellis, who had never been one for such open displays of emotions, nodded curtly before retrieving her rifle from over her shoulder with one hand and pointing to the closest restaurant with her other. "You need to take shelter, wait for the ACU to come and get you. Do not come outside until then…" She ordered the woman and her daughter. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes I understand." The woman agreed before securing Isabella on her hip and turning to run across the street into the restaurant that hundreds of park visitors had already crammed into. Ellis watched them enter safely, and when Isabella waved a small hand over her mother's shoulder, Ellis returned the goodbye with her own small wave. It was a completely innocent act, and Ellis had to wonder whether Isabella knew the severity of the situation she presently found herself in.

"We should get to the control room." Claire's words were decisive and stern, and miraculously neither Owen nor Ellis disagreed with her – for perhaps the first time since they'd come into contact with the redhead. "Organise a proper evacuation, we have protocols for situations exactly like this. We're trained for these kinds of situations, today was just a minor blip in an otherwise perfect record of visitor safety and asset containment." Claire didn't know who she was trying to persuade that what she was saying was the truth, the people around her, or herself.

"Uh," Owen began as she expertly shot down another pterosaur that soared towards the group. "I wouldn't exactly call this a minor blip." As he spoke, the three adults herded Gray into the centre of their well-armed circle, with Zach well hidden behind the wall that was Owen Grady and his semiautomatic rifle.

"At the very least this is a slight inconvenience." Ellis deadpanned, squinting her left eye ever so slightly in order to get a better view down the barrel of her gun, aiming towards the sky and ready to shoot down anything that dared head in their direction.

"Oh I don't know." Zach Mitchell this time, who ducked his head as a dinosaur swooped low over it. The breeze caused by the pterodactyl's incredible wingspan blew his hair into dishevelment and he ran his hand through it quickly. The group moved as one unit, slowly making their way down Main Street and towards The Hammond Creation Lab. "I'm a glass half full kind of guy myself." Zach continued.

"I've had worse days." Gray pipped up last, and Ellis didn't know whether it was his rounded cherub face, or the fact that his voice cracked with fear as he tried to make a joke, that was funny to her but she laughed softly the moment he finished speaking. Everyone, even Claire, soon joined in and for a moment they all forgot about the mortal peril of their immediate situation.

"Claire!" A voice called out, and Ellis immediately recognised the thick British accent of Zara Young who darted out from under the shelter of one of Main Street's many food stalls and towards the group. The brunette held her hands above her head in a half-hearted attempt to shield and protect herself, but as she ran towards the group she allowed a small smile to dance across her lips as she was lulled into a false sense of security by the sight of the guns tucked tightly in Ellis and Owen's shoulders. "You found them! Oh thank goodness, I was so worried and I am so sorry…"

"Zara…" Claire breathed out her personal assistants name, her tone one of relief laced with just a hint of surprise. With everything that had happened today, she'd completely forgotten about her raven haired PA and hadn't once stopped to think about Zara's safety whilst she'd been running around the park. This realisation hit Claire like a tonne of bricks; all of the teasing Ellis and Owen had thrown her way in the past year or so suddenly started to make sense. Claire Dearing was not a particularly pleasant person, but having realised this, she was going to change.

"I honestly cannot apologise enough, you are well within your rights to fire me right here and now, in fact I hereby resign from the position as I have failed monumentally the one task that you set me this weekend." Zara was rambling, grovelling really, and she only stopped when she caught Claire smiling at her, an act which was decidedly strange.

"You're not fired Zara, none of this was your fault. I'm sorry and I-" Claire's response was brought to a crippling halt when a pteradon swooped down, sunk it's talons into the flesh of Zara Young's slender shoulders and lifted the brunette off of the ground.

Zara's scream was piercing and the moment it fell from her lips, the world, and the chaos that reigned in it, seemed to slow down drastically. Claire's hand flew up to her face, covering her mouth and muffling her own deafening scream. Gray buried his face in his aunts, now decidedly off-white, shirt, Zach took a tentative and protective step closer to his younger brother and Owen's face was steely, the perfect soldier, undeterred by the events unfolding before him.

Blood trickled down Zara's shoulders and she thrashed in a desperate attempt to free herself from the pteradons vice like grip. The crimson of her blood was a stark contrast to the soft, pale grey of the jacket she was wearing and the sight of it seemed to all but clear Ellis Grant's mind. She watched as this girl, a girl whom Ellis had spent only a handful of hours with during the very little downtime that Zara allowed herself to take, desperately cry out for someone to save her life and so without a second thought, Ellis cast her rifle to the ground and leapt forwards, wrapping her arms tightly around Zara's waist.

Ellis' injured arm screamed out in protest at the exertion, and Owen did his best to lunge forwards and pull his best friend backwards. He was too late however, and Ellis felt her booted feet be lifted effortlessly off the ground as the pteradon batted its wings and soared higher up into the sky. Zara looked down at Ellis who was still clinging to her tightly. "Ellis, Ellis please…please." She sobbed. Ellis looked up at her, her heart breaking as she watched Zara – a girl who was usually so collected – crumble before her eyes.

"It's going to be okay." Ellis bare face lied.

Zara screamed, one of both fear and pain as the pteradon's talons dug deeper into her flesh, ripping at the trapezius muscles between her neck and shoulders.

"Can you get free? Use your hands? You can do it Zara…"

Zara nodded slowly, lifting her arms above her head, despite the immense pain it caused in her shoulders, and trying her very best to prise the pteradons talons from her flesh. The more Zara moved and thrashed about in the air, the more Ellis' injured arm weakened and in one terrifying second her grip loosened and she slipped down, regaining her grip at the last moment and clinging desperately to Zara's slender ankles.

"Ellis!"

Ellis' palms were sweaty with a mixture of fear and strain and both she and Zara knew that she could not hold on much longer.

"No Ellis please, please don't let go." Zara sobbed.

The pteradon beat its immense wings, swooping this way and that in an attempt to prevent the other creatures that were circling around it from pilfering its prey. It flew away from Main Street, towards the large man made lagoon which housed the resorts Mosasaur and Zara screamed at the top of her lungs every inch of the way.

Ellis looked up at her, thrashing about in vain, desperately trying to save her own life, and all of the interactions she'd ever had with Zara started playing on a loop in her head. The first time Claire had instructed the Brit to meet Ellis at her cabin, to show her around the island and introduce her to the staff. The time Zara had taken a weekend off, got drunk with Vivian and begged Ellis not to post the photographs on social media. All the times Zara had spoken about her family back home in England, and how dearly she missed them. And the time Zara had sat Ellis down with a coffee and flicked through every page of her wedding scrap book, she'd gushed about how in love she was with Alec, and Ellis hadn't even tried to hide her boredom. She regretted that now.

Ellis knew she was going to fall a fraction before it happened, an intense pain moved from the palms of her hands into her wrists and her muscles contracted involuntarily. She let go, much to Zara's devastation and hurtled to the ground.

"Ellis!" Was the last thing Ellis Grant heard before she came crashing some twenty feet down to the ground. She braced herself for the impact of the concrete ground, but nothing could have prepared her for the reality of the pain when she landed. The wind was knocked from her lungs and she lay on the ground gasping for breath as pain surged throughout her entire body. Her head was spinning and her vision was blurry but the image of Zara Young's terrified face was perfectly clear in her mind, Ellis hadn't been able to save her.

Over the lagoon Zara had managed to get free, she dropped five feet through the air and landed in the water. Dazed, in pain and with no idea which direction was up, Zara kicked her feet, desperately trying to reach the surface. The salt water blurred her vision, but around her she could sense bodies breaking the water. In the sky above, pteradons flew high above the water before tucking their wings in like gannets, streamlining their bodies and diving headfirst beneath the surface. The impact created a wall of bubbles which disorientated Zara even more, but still she continued to kick upwards, using what little strength she had left in her arms to try to propel herself further. One diving dinosaur was lucky, capturing the raven haired personal assistant in its beak. The impact of it took Zara's breath away and in a moment of shock she inhaled, water immediately filling her lungs. The dinosaur surged upwards, breaking the surface and allowing Zara a moments solace to capture her breath in the crisp Costa Rican air. Her relief was short lived however, and she did not have time to even scream as the Mosasaur immerged from the depths of the lagoon, breaking the surface and capturing the pterodactyl, and Zara, in its immense jaws before clamping them shut and disappearing back into the water.

Claire, Zach and Gray watched the entire scene unfold in a matter of seconds. Claire watched in horror as her PA met her untimely demise, and covered Gray's eyes as it happened. Owen, on the other hand, was fixated on Ellis and the fact that she still hadn't moved since colliding with the concrete ground. He bent down slowly; retrieving the rifle that Ellis had cast aside in her attempt to rescue Zara and handing it to Claire before straightening up again. He whistled, getting the attention of Claire and her nephews before nodding towards Ellis on the ground. "Let's go." He muttered, trying his best to keep the worry that was bubbling up in the pit of his stomach from showing in his tone of voice.

They moved as a single unit, led by Owen and his semiautomatic rifle and followed by Claire who held Ellis' gun uncomfortably against her right shoulder. When they reached Ellis, Gray gasped. She didn't appear to be breathing, but her eyes were wide and staring up at the sky. Fresh cuts littered her skin and fresh crimson blood soaked through the makeshift bandage she'd wrapped around her arm earlier that day as the wound had been torn open once again.

"Is she…is she dead?" Gray asked, peeping at Ellis from behind the safety of his older brother.

Owen shook his head, "she better not be…" He dropped to his knees, taking Ellis' slender wrist in his much larger hand and feeling gently for a pulse. "Come on Elle…" He muttered under his breath as he waited for what felt like forever for a moment to pass and for a pulse to register beneath his fingertips. When he found one he smiled, dropping his head down and laughing nervously – he didn't know what he would have done, or how he would have reacted had he lost his best friend this afternoon. "…It's her turn to muck out the paddock." He finished his original sentence, and the sound of his voice, or more specifically his voice making a joke at her expense, brought Ellis around.

"It's definitely not my turn." She spluttered. Owen smiled, looping one arm around her shoulders to help her sit up, and after a couple of seconds he helped her get shakily to her feet. Ellis made a note of the way Claire was stood, feet shoulder width apart and rooted firmly to the ground, rifle tucked tightly into her shoulder and face steely. "This is a good look for you." She winced as she spoke, at least one of her ribs definitely broken.

Claire smirked. "I could get used to it."

With one arm wrapped around Ellis, supporting her weight so that she didn't have to bear it all, and one hand still firmly clenching the handle of his gun, Owen's gaze dragged appreciatively over Claire's frame once before he spoke. "Well, as exciting as this has been…" He drawled.

"Control room?" Ellis suggested.

"Control room." He agreed.

* * *

Lowery Cruthers and Vivian Krill sat silently at their desks, their gazes set firmly on the numerous monitors that covered the far wall of the control room. Around them, some people were frantically making calls, desperate to try to bring some sort of order to the chaos that was unfolding around them. Others, much like Lowery and Vivian, sat with dumbfounded expressions, not able to fathom how something so catastrophic had happened in such a short period of time. People were dying around them, Masrani was gone, and they were all slowly coming to realise that any form of _control_ that any of them had over the situation had crashed and burned the moment the Indominus Rex had escaped from her paddock.

When the elevator doors opened no one even bothered to turn to see who it was that was entering, they were all too preoccupied with watching the screens in front of them. Vivian's eyebrows knitted together with concern as she watched families and young children flee for their lives, Lowery's expression was emotionless as he desperately sought out one face in an ocean of people scrambling to get to safety. Vic Hoskins stared straight ahead as he stepped out of the elevators, his team diligently following behind him, and he did his very best not to allow the irritation he felt at no one acknowledging his entrance to show on his face.

The further they walked into the room, the more imposing the group of burly men became. Eventually the security guard, whose job it was to make sure no unauthorised personnel entered the control room, stepped forward, attempting to block Hoskin's path. "Hey, hey, hey, you guys can't just be walkin' up in here…"

Hoskins stepped around the security guard and puffed up his chest. "Simon Masrani's death was a tragedy." He boomed as he took confident strides further into the room. At his desk, Lowery spun slowly in his chair to face the man in his pale khaki shirt, and a look of confusion flashed across his features. "The new mission…" Hoskins continued, "is to prevent further loss of life."

Lowery gestured to the numerous men, who had commandeered desks all over the room, and were opening boxes and setting up workstations of their own. "Err, who are these guys?"

"I'm glad you asked." Hoskins paused, tensing his jaw ever so slightly as he glanced quickly around the room. "You are all relieved of duty, there's a new team on the ground."

At his statement, the room came alive with chatter from the workers who had previously been too stunned to speak. Now they turned to one another with questioning looks, what did this mean for their future? Was the park going to close? What was going to happen to the visitors? To the animals?

Vivian cast a questioning look towards her co-worker, who shrugged and slowly got to his feet. Lowery closed the distance between himself and Hoskins, something he probably would not have done the day before but something that today, felt like exactly the right thing to do. "So what's your plan here?" He asked, frowning up at Hoskins who had at least three inches on the technician. "You think you can just come in and take over now that Masrani is gone, that's not how this works, this isn't a dictatorship it's a company. The board of directors-"

Hoskins held up one hand, cutting Lowery off mid flow. "Who do you think authorised this? Listen kid this is InGens problem now, not yours. So I suggest you stay out of our way, and no one will get hurt."

"Get hurt?" Lowery's brows shot up and he shook his head in disbelief. He was about to speak again when Vivian tugged on the sleeve of his pale blue shirt. When he turned to look at her she shook her head and reluctantly he stepped down, much to the amusement of Vic.

"Right," Hoskins boomed. "Now that anarchy has been quashed, I want everyone working on an intercommunication system. One that will work on the few frequencies we have left. I need to be able to see and hear everything that happens when we get the raptors up and running. Okay people let's get working, we want the programme up and running by nightfall."

* * *

Back on Main Street, Ellis, Owen, Claire and her nephews had managed to fight their way through to the service roads, the streets that ran behind Main Streets shops and restaurants where food deliveries would be made and trash would be thrown out at night into enormous dumpsters. The service roads were much quieter, and there were less people pushing and showing in a bid for survival. The moment rest bite meant Ellis was able to stop to take a breath and when she did so Claire stepped forwards, offering to inspect any injuries and see if she could be of any assistance.

Ellis hesitated at first, but eventually nodded silently and carefully lifted the hem of the tank top she was wearing; revealing her toned abdomen and a rapidly developing bruise across her ribs. It was at this moment that Owen slowly turned away, covering Gray's eyes as he did so. Zach turned away too, though he continued to watch from the corner of his eye, much to Owen's amusement.

Unaware of the boys antics Claire leaned closer to inspect the bruise that was forming across Ellis' ribs. "Ouch…" She breathed, ghosting her fingertips across Ellis' skin before looking up. "Does it hurt?" She asked.

Ellis cracked a smile. "Only when I breathe."

Claire nodded slowly, lowering the hem of Ellis' shirt. "It could probably do with strapping, there's a medical kit in the control room, we can do it then…we don't really have time to get to medical, plus I think they might have their hands full at the moment."

"Claire, Claire stop." Ellis offered the redhead another smile. "Honestly, thank you. But I'm fine, don't worry about me, a couple of cracked ribs is nothing I can't handle."

Claire pursed her lips and Ellis braced herself for some sort of disagreeing statement, but instead Claire let out a long slow breath before saying something Ellis Grant would never have expected. "You were really brave…out there…with Zara. I just, I just want to say that I know I have been terrible to you since you arrived, but you really are something Ellis Grant. What I'm trying to say is that I'm glad you're here and that you're okay." Afterwards there was a brief moment's silence where the two women stared intently at one another with a new found unspoken understanding for each other. The silence was only broken when the radio that was still attached to the waistband of Ellis' shorts crackled as Lowery Cruthers attempted to contact her.

Astonished that the radio was still working following her fall, Ellis unclipped the device from her jean shorts and held the received up to her mouth. "Lowery, what was that? You broke up a little."

Static crackled over the radio again and Lowery's voice, distorted by lack of signal and damage to the speakers sustained in the fall. "Ellis, where are you right now?"

"We're just about to head back to you, it's a little crazy out here."

"That's a bad idea." Lowery's voice crackled and Claire raised a brow at his words. "The board assigned emergency ops to InGens private security division, this guy Hoskins is in charge and he has this insane plan to use the raptors to hunt the Indominus..."

Owen Grady had long since turned around, and he and Ellis were engaged in a furious silent conversation – speaking only with facial expressions – before Lowery had even finished his sentence.

"What does he mean _use_ the raptors?" Claire asked.

"Son of a bitch!" Owen couldn't hide his frustration, and he balled his hands into tight fists either side of his body. Right on queue a military grade attack helicopter flew low overhead, heading for the helipad on the far side of the Hammond Creation Lab.

"You shouldn't say bitch." Gray's voice was soft and Zach laughed at the sound of it. His younger brother was so preoccupied with staring up at the helicopter above him that he hadn't even registered what was really going on or being said, he was simply repeating what he'd say at home.

"We should warn Barry…" Ellis stepped forward, wincing as she did so. Owen tore his gaze away from the helicopter and focused it instead on the face of his best friend.

"Think you can get him on the radio?"

"I'll try. Should we head back to the paddock?"

Owen nodded. "Claire, take the kids…get them some place safe."

"No." Claire spoke assertively. "We're all going to stay together. You and Ellis can go and look after your little dinosaurs but first I need to make sure that everyone here, actual human beings, are safe. And then we can figure out how to get the Indominus back into her paddock, okay?" The tone of her voice, and her complete intolerance for any kind of disagreement was what caused Owen and Ellis to back down so quickly.

"Okay." They agreed in unison. Both shocked that the other had surrendered so easily, but both thankful that there was no need to argue and waste any more time.

* * *

It took another couple of hours for ACU to either put down or sedate all of the pterosaurs and once this task was complete, the lifeless bodies of the prehistoric giants were safely transported to holding pens off site, deep within the jungle and miles away from any civilians. The injured park visitors were seen to by the in-house medical staff, who were vastly outnumbered and whose supplies were rapidly depleting but who soldiered on regardless, making tourniquets out of leather belts and makeshift slings out of shirts. All visitors and any staff whose presence on the island was not absolutely necessary were then shuttled to the port. They were driven to the port in all manner of vehicles; land cruisers, tour buses, golf carts, quadbikes – because the monorail, and all other none essential electrical outputs, was still on a firm lockdown.

The evacuation process was finalised just as dusk settled across the island, casting a soft orange glow through the full length windows that lined the waiting area of Isla Nublar's main port. Inside, families huddled together, some children sobbed whilst others slept soundly on their parent's laps. On one side of the room Ellis thanked the nurse that had just finished up strapping bandages tightly around her ribs and redressing the wound on her arm.

"I wouldn't do anything too strenuous for a while, and I'd get that arm checked out once we get to the mainland, looks as though it could be infected." The nurse urged and Ellis nodded curtly. She had absolutely no intention of getting on any of the boats that were all ready to ferry people off the island and back to Costa Rica, instead she had plans to stay behind and completely disregard the suggestions of the medical professional who was now turned away, tending to an elderly gentleman who'd somehow suffered a laceration to his forehead in the commotion of the afternoon.

With the nurse no longer looking, Ellis released a long, slow breath as she took in her surroundings. She made a note of the sheer number of people packed into the waiting area, all ready and waiting to be ferried across the water to safety. She thought about the past couple of hours, and how the events of the day seemed to blur into one, terrifying nightmare. She thought about her dad and the look that would undoubtedly be plastered onto his weary face as he announced that he 'told her so' and condemned all and any work she'd ever done on the island as 'not real science.' It was a sad thought really, but one that made her all the more determined to make him proud. Ellis and Owen had been working with the raptors since she'd arrived on the island and they'd made good progress in doing so. She didn't believe that they were ready, but circumstances meant that neither she, nor Owen or the girls had any choice in the matter. Despite this, despite her ever increasing worries and list of injuries longer than her arm, Ellis Grant was determined. She was determined to put a stop to everything that was going wrong on the island, and more than that she was determined to make her dad proud.

On the other side of the room Claire was stood on a makeshift podium, one that had been created by stacking boxes, that usually contained in case of emergency weaponry but that were now completely empty, on top of one another. The red head was now marginally higher than even the tallest people in the room, and was at a perfect vantage point to see each and every face in the room, all of which were turned to face her, listening intently.

Claire held a megaphone to her lips, pressing the button to amplify her voice whenever she spoke, which she had been doing for a good fifteen minutes now in an attempt to calm everyone down and restore some form of order to the chaos.

"Finally, it saddens me to say that I know that possibly all of us have lost someone today, be it a loved one or a colleague. I know that we have all seen terrible, horrible things and for that I am truly sorry. I'm sorry to your families and to your friends but mostly I am sorry about those that are no longer here with us. Please believe me when I say that we are doing everything in our power to get the situation back under control and that you are all safe here. The first boat will be docking in around fifteen minutes and soon after that you can all go home…" There were a few cheers around the room, and Claire's unblinking expression faltered at the sound of them. "Thank you for your cooperation and for the help everyone has offered tonight…" With that she nodded and stepped down from her makeshift podium, passing the megaphone over to a park official who took her place and started organising everyone into groups, starting with women and children first.

"C'mon Elle…" Owen placed a strong hand on Ellis' shoulder, and tightened his grip on her when he felt her flinch at his touch. "Hey, you okay?" He asked, concern lacing his tones.

Ellis nodded quickly, getting to her feet and tucking her thumbs through the loops on the waistband of her jean shorts. "Never better." She lied.

Owen didn't believe her, and it showed on his face, but he nodded nonetheless. "I've just had word from Lowery that Hoskins and his men are headed down to the paddock. Barry's already there so we should probably…"

Claire and the Mitchell brothers arrived at Owen's side just as Ellis pulled on her plaid shirt, preparing herself for the slight dip in temperature that the evening air brought with it. "Let's go get our girls."

* * *

 **A/N: Hello everyone! It's officially 18th October and so officially my birthday and I thought, what better way to celebrate than to update one of my fics? I've missed Ellis and Insatiable terribly these past couple of months and I'm really sorry that I haven't updated. I've had a pretty rough time with writing, with a lot of negativity and put downs which really impacted on my motivation/ability to actually write anything at all. But i'm slowly getting over it. Please excuse how terrible this chapter is, i'm rusty what can I say. I've only got 40mins of actual movie left to write which is both a terrifying and exciting thought. Insatiable is almost over and I just want to thank everyone for sticking with it thus far. As usual if you liked the chapter, or have anything to say really then please do leave a review as just reading through the existing reviews was enough to motivate me to get this chapter up. You can also find any insatiable edits etc on my blog on tumblr (jurassicinsatiable). Thank you once again everyone, you're the best!**


	16. Chapter 16

The journey to the paddock was a quiet one. Owen drove silently, his jaw tight as he ground his teeth together in anger. Ellis stared dead ahead, watching as the black jungle jumped out at them. For the first time since she'd arrived on the island, she didn't admire the array of flora that thickly blanketed the earth nor did she find herself daydreaming about the beauty of the island and the animals that inhabited it. In the back seat, Gray Mitchell was taking full advantage of the brief moment of rest, his head leaning against his aunt's shoulder and his eyes firmly shut as he dozed. Claire Dearing smiled as she traced small circles against the back of Gray's hand with her thumb, soothing her young nephew as he got some well-deserved sleep. Zach sat beside his aunt, eyes cast downwards towards his hands. He was trying his best not to relive the traumatic events of the day but every time he blinked Zara Young's petrified face flashed before his eyes and he couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty for the horrific way in which she had lost her life. None of them said a word to one another, and the only sounds that could be heard were the branches and fallen leaves snapping as they were crushed under the speeding wheels of the Jeep. The atmosphere was a solemn one, but every single person in the car, even Gray who slept soundly, knew that their day from hell was far from over.

Ellis sat forward in her seat as they neared the paddock; there was an array of vehicles, the likes of which she had never seen before in her life, parked up in every available space. Men twice her size ambled around, heavy weaponry slung over their shoulders as though it didn't weigh a thing and body armour covering almost every inch of their skin. Some of them were chatting outside, laughing with one another and passing around a light for their cigarettes. At the sight of it anger bubbled up inside of her, she'd always enforced a strict no smoking rule around the paddock, in an attempt to protect the raptors from any harmful substances that wouldn't have been around when they were originally. In the grand scheme of things, a couple of mercenaries sharing a smoke outside the raptor paddock was far from the worst thing to happen that day, but for a girl on the edge such as she was, it was enough to push her right on over.

"I can't believe this." She spat as Owen parked up. The pair of them exchanging a glance before moving quickly to get out of the car. In the backseat Claire gently shook Gray awake, and helped her newphews out of the Jeep at a much gentler pace.

Noticing their arrival, Vic Hoskins turned away from the velociraptor he had been obnoxiously clicking at and straightened up a little, a smirk finding its way onto his plump features. He instinctively puffed out his chest a little as Owen and Ellis marched towards him, and took note of the fact that both of their expressions were downright thunderous. "Would you look at that," he announced, his voice laced with false confidence. "The mother hen has finally arrived."

He barely got to finish his sentence before Owen's balled fist collided with his right cheek, doubling the much larger man over in pain momentarily. Vic saw stars and for a second he was completely thrown, he eventually regained his composure however and straightened up once more, stroking tentatively at his now reddened cheek and staring Owen dead in the eye.

"Get the hell out of here. And stay away from our animals." Owen warned. Beside him Ellis resisted the urge to bring her knee up into Hoskins' crotch. He was close enough that she'd be able to do it with minimal effort, and she could think of nothing she'd like more than to see his eyes water with pain.

"We know what you're trying to do here, and we're not going to let it happen you son of a bitch." Ellis spat, choosing words over physical actions for no the first time in her life.

"Jesus." Vic played innocent. "How many more people have to die before this mission makes sense to you?" He turned to Ellis. "Both of you."

Barry moved closer to Ellis, wrapping a protective arm around her waist. Part of him doing so as a sign of affection, he'd known nothing about her and Owen's whereabouts all day and he was positively ecstatic to find them both alive and, for the most part, well. Mostly he was doing it to ensure than if and when she lunged forward, ready to rip Vic Hoskins eyes from their sockets, Barry would be able to hold her back. "It's not a mission, it's a field test." Barry pointed out, and Vic glanced sideways towards him. What he was saying was true, the animals had never been out of containment and there really was no guarantee as to how they would react once free.

Ellis continued to glare and Vic narrowed his eyes towards her. "This is an InGen situation now."

"…and we all know how excellently InGen have handled situations like this in the past. Years ago my dad almost died because of this place…and are you forgetting about San Diego?" Ellis shook her head in disbelief. "If you honestly think that this is a good idea then you're more stupid than you look."

Vic bit his tongue, he knew that there was no convincing Owen and Ellis separately and even less of a chance when they were together, but he had too much invested in this plan, too much time and energy for him to give up now because of an ex-marine and his scientist best friend. "There are going to be cruise ships at first light, everybody's going to get off this island." He stepped closer to Ellis, getting so close to her face that she could feel his warm breath against her skin, it positively made her want to gag. "You're going to watch a news story tomorrow about how you all saved lives, no, better yet about how _your animals_ saved lives."

Her stony expression didn't falter once, and for a moment Ellis and Hoskins merely stared at one another. A tense standoff that neither one wanted to back down to. Eventually she broke his gaze, turning her face away from him to look to Owen. He was staring straight back at her and together, despite their reservations and better judgement; they made the silent decision that doing as Hoskins' said was probably their only option.

Noticing the way his colleagues were communicating without saying a word Barry shook his head. "Ellis…Owen…they've never been out of containment. It's crazy."

Vic smirked, Barry stood no chance once the alpha and his right hand man had made a decision and so he turned away, motioning with his hand in the air towards the mercenaries that littered the paddock. "Let's move it out!" He bellowed. "This is happening," he turned back towards Ellis and Owen who tore their gazes away from one another to stare coldly back towards the man they'd both hated for so many months. "With or without the two of you."

* * *

The decision was made that if a group of mercenaries were going to take the raptors out on a trial run, then Owen and Ellis were going to head said mission. Hoskins hadn't tried to fight them on the decision, neither had any of the InGen mercenaries involved. Ellis and Owen were the only people that the raptors trusted, and Owen, as their alpha, was the only person on earth who had even a modicum of a chance of controlling the girls outside of containment. It was a long shot, but with Grant and Grady on board, Hoskins felt slightly more at ease with the fact that his plan might not actually blow up in his face.

In a makeshift base that had been set up a little way away from the paddock Ellis unrolled a topographical map of the island, spreading it out across the workbench that had been set up in the centre of the room. Once finished she moved to stand beside Owen who stood up straight, eyeing every man in the room before pointing to a point on the map. "We know that she is in sector 5, this is a game we call hide and seek, its scent drill." He glanced towards Ellis beside him before looking out towards the men once again. "We've done it about a thousand times with these animals. When they get on target, and they _will_ get on target," he raised a finger, "wait to engage."

Ellis stepped up now, clearing her throat slightly as she talked at a group of men who eyed her suspiciously. They didn't think she should be here, she knew that. It likely had something to do with the fact that she weighed probably half as much as one of their biceps, or maybe the fact that she was still covered head to toe in blood and nursing a cracked rib. She knew that it really had everything to do with the fact that she was a woman, she'd realised that when they'd refused Claire entry and demanded she stay outside looking after the children.

"Velociraptors are pack hunters." Ellis' expertise in prehistoric animals was perhaps the only reason she'd been allowed across the threshold into the strategic base, that and the fact that Owen had point blank refused to be of any assistance unless she was by his side. "They like to herd the animal into a kill zone. That's when you take your shot, get a clear shot…wait on Owen's command and then give the Indominus everything you've got, don't hold back." A couple of the men in the room exchanged glances, one of them smirked, making Ellis frown. "…and gentlemen you've got one good target. Do not shoot our raptors." Eyebrows were raised at the forceful way with which she spoke to them, but eventually there were murmurs of agreement and eventually everyone besides Owen left the room.

"You know you could have said please." Owen teased.

"Could have." Ellis agreed, folding her arms across her chest and trying not to wince at the pain in her ribs. "But didn't."

* * *

"Where did all of this stuff come from?" Ellis turned the contraption over in her hands. It was a camera, attached to a harness, one which was clearly designed for and intended to be worn by a velociraptor. "This isn't the kind of thing they could have knocked up in a day…"

Barry watched as the camera she was holding projected an image of Ellis onto the electronic tablet in his hands. "I don't know chère, we did know Hoskins' wanted weapons. Maybe he's been working on the idea for longer than we thought…"

Ellis nodded slowly, glancing up towards Barry who was keying something into the tablet, not looking at her. "Maybe." She agreed thoughtfully. "Do you think this is a good idea Baz?"

Barry sighed quietly at the sound of the nickname Ellis had been calling him ever since she arrived on the island. He'd never been fond of it, but he had been fond of her and so he'd let it slide. "No." He stated simply, so simply in fact that it made Ellis laugh out loud. Barry was brutally honest; it was one of the many things she adored about him.

"Well..." She mused with another soft laugh. "It's not like we've got any other hot ideas."

"Hey Elle?" Owen called her over, before she left Ellis smiled at Barry who nodded his head curtly before going back to doing whatever it was he'd been up to before she started distracting him. "Can you bring Blue's headset over?"

"Here." The brunette handed the camera piece over to Owen who was stood in front of Blue. All four of the raptors were secured in pens, their heads in metal harnesses that Ellis and Owen had designed and had built months ago. They'd initially been built in order for the handlers to keep an eye on the raptors dental condition, and to monitor any deterioration in ocular function – something Ellis had suspected could happen due to the harmful gasses that filled the atmosphere now that hadn't 65 million years ago. Today the harnesses were used to keep the raptors in place whilst Owen strapped cameras to their heads.

Taking the camera from Ellis, Owen gently secured it in place on Blue's head. The dinosaur jolted at his touch, snarling viciously in protest at having the foreign object attached to her body so tightly. "Easy Blue, easy…" Owen's voice was astonishingly calm considering how close he was to the prehistoric reptile. He gently stroked the palm of his hand across Blue's skin as he inspected the headpiece, making sure that everything was in the correct place. "Atta' girl, you don't scare us…" He smiled, glancing over his shoulder towards Ellis.

"She doesn't like it." Ellis sighed. She wasn't in the last bit shocked, but it was still a sorry sight to see such a strong and graceful animal confined to one space, strapped up to the nines with technological devices. It wasn't natural at all and Ellis hated it.

"Yep well, neither do I." Owen responded quietly, again keeping his tone soft and gentle as not to rile up the girls.

"Hey guys," Gray Mitchell, who had been in and out of sleep for the past half hour or so was now stood alongside his brother on the other side of the metal railings. Both of them stared in amazement at the four animals, they'd never seen dinosaurs so close before and the awe of it all was very much etched on their faces. Ellis smiled at the sight of it, a small feeling lingered in the pit of her stomach, she'd stopped being awestruck by the wonder of the place a long time ago, now it was her every day, it was her home. But it was still wonderful, very much so, and seeing the wonder on Zach and Gray's faces made her even more determined to put an end to the chaos of the day.

Owen's hand gently found Ellis' elbow, bringing her out of her daydream and manoeuvring her away from the raptors and over to the fence to meet the boys. "What's up?" She smiled breezily as they neared the boys.

Zach looked intensely at her, whilst Gray watched Owen carefully. "Are they safe?" The younger of the two asked.

"No they're not." Owen said simply, figuring that the boys had been through just as much as he had today; there was no point sugar-coating things at this point.

The boys nodded slowly, and this time Zach spoke. "What are their names?" He asked Ellis.

"Well there's Charlie over on the end there," she pointed each dinosaur out as she spoke. "then there's Delta…Echo…and that one there is Blue, she's she beta."

"Who's the alpha?" Gray asked, straightening up a little. He half expected for Ellis and Owen to unleash a fifth raptor, one much bigger and even more terrifying than the ones before him, as if there were possible.

"You're looking at him kid." Owen smirked and Ellis rolled her eyes. In front of them Gray grinned and Zach cast his gaze to the ground, almost as embarrassed by Owen's words as Ellis had been.

"We're pretty much ready to go here." Ellis glanced over her shoulder, a final check that each raptor was set up as she should be. "You should go find your aunt, wait in the van like we planned earlier. Me, Owen and Barry will be leaving pretty soon."

"Can't we come with you?" Gray asked his eyes wide and pleading. Ever since he'd stumbled across Ellis Grant in the clearing in the forest he'd felt safe, and he'd barely spent a moment away from her since. Something about her calmed him down and the thought that she was about to leave him in the not so capable hands of his Aunt Claire was a terrifying one. "Please?"

Ellis dropped down to his level, smiling at him through the barriers. "I'm sorry kiddo, but not this time. It's too dangerous."

"If it's dangerous then you should stay too, you're already hurt." Gray pouted slightly, motioning with his hand towards Ellis' arm which was feeling a lot better since being bandaged back at the dock and ribs, which were certainly not feeling all that great, not that she'd admit that to anyone.

"What this?" Ellis slipped her arm from the sleeve of her plaid shirt and glanced down towards the bandage. A small amount of blood had seeped through, staining the white of the dressings, but she returned her arm to her sleeve before Gray got a chance to notice it. "It's nothing, just a flesh wound. I'm fine, and I'll have you know that running from dinosaurs is in my DNA, I'm pretty much the most qualified person on this island for this mission." She smirked and reached a hand through the barriers to ruffle Gray's hair a little. "You know what actually, I have an idea. Wait here."

Ellis straightened up, and headed back over to where Barry was standing. They spoke quietly for a moment, and after a while he handed over the iPad in his hand. Ellis pressed a soft kiss against his cheek before she made her way back over to the railings, passing the tablet through to Gray who looked at it quizzically.

"You'll be able to see everything on this, me, Owen…everything. You can be my eyes out there, how does that sound." Gray nodded slowly. "Okay, now go find Claire, I can't do anything unless I know you two idiots are safe."

The boys reluctantly left in search of their aunt and Ellis breathed out a sigh of relief when she watched Claire load the pair of them into the back of an armoured medical van. "You've gone soft Ellis Grant." Owen mused beside her, before promptly being silenced when Ellis jabbed him in the ribs with her good elbow.

Despite his teasing, Ellis noticed the way Owen's gaze was set firmly on Claire Dearing. He watched as she helped her nephews into the van, as she shrugged off her shirt and headed towards the driver's side door. "You should say goodbye to her, you know that don't you."

"W-what?" Owen stumbled, making Ellis smile. "I err, dunno what you're talking about Elle…"

"Oh just do it already, we head out in 5 minutes." With that Ellis turned away, heading back over to Barry to run some final logistics before they left the paddock for possibly the last time.

Owen watched her leave before turning his attention back to Claire. He rubbed his sweating palms against his thighs, drying them off as best he could before attempting to psych himself up. "Just do it." He muttered to himself, "yeah…just do it, just go over to the woman who hates you most in the world and tell her how you really feel Grady. What could go wrong? It's not like you're possibly going to die in the next half hour. C'mon man." Becoming increasingly aware that he was talking to himself, and that his two best friends were definitely within hearing distance Owen decided to take the plunge and unlocked the gate, making his way towards Claire with long, purposeful strides. Behind him, Ellis and Barry watched the entire scene unfold with bemused expressions.

When he reached the red head, Owen cleared his throat, announcing his presence. Claire turned to face him and smiled. "All set?" She asked.

"Almost." With that Owen closed the gap between them, weaved one hand into Claire's auburn hair and placed the other gently on her waist. He pressed his lips so gently to Claire's that her eyes widened in surprised before they fluttered to a close as she reciprocated the kiss. When Owen pulled away after a moment he smiled. "Goodbye Claire."

"I'll see you soon Mr Grad-…Owen."

When Owen re-joined Barry and Ellis on the other side of the paddock, Barry clapped a hand against Owen's broad shoulder and beamed at his friend. Beside him, Ellis smirked, a sly smile that said a thousand things without the need for her to say anything at all. Owen blushed and Ellis laughed quietly. "Now who has gone soft?" She teased, but the smile that illuminated her features told him it was all in jest, and that she really was happy for him.

Owen raised his eyebrows. "Have you spoken to Lowery?"

"Just a second ago yeah, told him we were about to head out."

"Did you also tell him that you're in love with him and you want his bespectacled dinosaur loving babies?" Owen challenged and rather than answer, or give rise to it, Ellis merely turned away, grabbing her rifle and slinging it over the shoulder of her good arm.

"We should go."

* * *

When it came down to it, the real work, the dangerous jobs, Hoskins had conveniently made himself scarce. He'd made a point of telling everyone it was so that he could head up the mission from the control room, be everyone's eyes and ears, an overseer of sorts. But Ellis knew that all Vic Hoskins really was, was a coward and whilst she felt a hint of sympathy for his none existent manhood, she couldn't really say that she was sad to see him go when he heaved himself into a Wrangler and sped off in the direction of Main Street.

Everything appeared to move quicker once Hoskins had left, the vehicles were parked up around front, men and women were suited up in body armour and tech gear. Owen had brought his beloved motorcycle round from the cabins and Barry had set himself and Ellis up on a quadbike each. The plan was run through again and again, until every member of the unit knew exactly what was going to happen, right down to the finest detail. Then, with nothing else to distract themselves with, and no more excuses to be made, they were ready to head out.

Owen took the job of familiarising the raptors with the scent of the Indominus Rex, he held a piece of the hybrids flesh in his hands, wrapped in a ripped piece of cloth. In turn he stood before each raptor, holding out the chunk of flesh and pressing down on their training clicker to ensure the girls knew that this was their prey, what he wanted them to find for him. With the girls familiarised, he took his place at the front of the convoy, he revved the engine of his Scrambler bike once before looking over his shoulder towards Ellis. Her expression was one of sheer determination, and she nodded at him slowly. With her signal Owen kick started his bike and nodded up towards the young paddock worker who had come face to face with the raptors no more than a couple of days earlier. He nodded back and then pressed the release button, opening the gates that held the raptors back.

The four of them shot out in a blur, so fast that if you didn't know what you were looking for you'd have missed them in the ever fading light of Isla Nublar. Owen, Ellis and the rest of the convoy kicked into gear then, taking off with inconceivable speed as they followed the raptors blindly into the thick, black, jungle. The chase went on for many miles, and with every second that passed Ellis found the entire thing ever more thrilling. She watched as the raptors communicated with one another, Blue heading the pack. Occasionally one of the others would peel off, the first time it happened Ellis was worried that Echo wouldn't come back, but then without warning she surged through the foliage to Ellis' left and re-joined the pack on the hunt.

Back in the medical van, Claire had taken the electronic tablet from Gray and was watching it fixedly from the front seat. Behind her, Zach and his brother watched over her shoulder through a small sliding window. Every so often Owen or Ellis would come into view, riding alongside the raptors as opposed to the rest of the vehicles who were a short distance behind them. Zach grinned each and every time he caught sight of the handlers. "Your boyfriends a badass." He stated, rather matter-of-factly. In the front seat Claire smiled, out of sight of her nephews. "…and when she gets back, I'm going to ask Ellis to marry me."

Barry kept a close eye on his speedometer, taking into account the rough terrain and the differences it made when the vehicles had to take a slightly different route to the raptors, for whom a fallen tree was of no consequence. After a short while he noticed that whilst they had slowed down, this time they showed no signs of speeding back up again and so he shouted ahead to Owen and Ellis. "They're slowing down!"

Ellis glanced at the speedometer of her quadbike. "He's right."

"They've got something," Owen shouted into the receiver of the radio that was clipped to his shirt. Letting the rest of the convoy behind them know.

The raptors entered a large clearing in the forest, and as they did all vehicles came to a stop behind them. Whilst the mercenaries piled out of the Jeeps and positioned themselves with their weapons, Ellis slowly dismounted the quadbike watching as the raptors chattered amongst themselves, seemingly pleased that they'd been successful in their hunt. The jungle itself was deathly quiet, the only sounds being that of the heavily booted men and women that now flooded the clearing, there were no birds or insects, and the silence made every hair on Ellis' body stand on end. She clutched at her rifle, readying herself for the worst. The only light in the clearing was that of the infrared beams that shone from the viewfinders of the automatic weapons the mercenaries carried, all of which were pointed towards the one, very large, tree that all four raptors appeared to be fixated on. From behind the large log that they'd taken cover behind, Ellis held her breath.

When the Indominus Rex revealed itself, it did not immediately attack the smaller dinosaurs as Ellis had half feared that it would. Instead, it stepped out from the foliage slowly, bowing its much larger head down towards the earth in order to get a better look at the raptors. She was sure that the hybrid knew they were there, but for some reason it did not seem to be in the least bit concerned by the handful of men that surrounded it, something that Ellis found all too strange. Her mind was whirring at a million times a second, trying to piece together or make sense of the scene that was unfolding before her. The Indominus Rex made a sound, it wasn't a roar like one she'd heard it produce earlier in the day, but more a vocalisation, something that sounded eerily familiar to the brunette and she jumped slightly at the sound of it.

"Something's wrong." Barry whispered, when in front of the Indominus, Blue made a similar vocalisation. Slowly, one by one Delta, Echo and Charlie joined in until eventually all four raptors and the Indominus Rex were making similar sounds to one another.

Ellis' dark eyes went wide. "They're communicating." She gasped.

Owen, who had been uncharacteristically quiet for quite some time, narrowed his eyes. "I know why they wouldn't tell us what it's made of…"

"Why?" Barry whispered again.

"It's part raptor." Ellis finished Owen's sentence.

As though perfectly on cue, all four raptors that had previously been facing the hybrid turned slowly towards the men and women that encircled them, they had new prey in their sights. Through the radio earpiece she had in Ellis heard the voice of Vic Hoskins yell 'light it up!' and a fraction of a second later one of the mercenaries bellowed "engage!" In a flurry of flashing lights and deafening sounds, every gun was fired at once, this time with not only one, but five targets in their sights. The raptors immediately scattered, whilst the Indominus Rex retreated further into the jungle. Ellis fired her weapon furiously after the white beast, willing her bullets to cause maximum damage, but knowing that realistically very few would pierce the Indominus' thick hide. A rocket was launched from a shoulder mounted launcher, and suddenly the entire clearing with lit up with an eerie orange glow as fire blazed in the trees that surrounded them. The Indominus fell, and Ellis stood up slowly, wondering whether the hit had made any last impact. Her heart sank when the creature got to its feet and disappeared into the jungle.

Owen stood up and stared at the blaze. Sweat trickled down his forehead, created by the sheer ferocity of the heat that the fire had created in the clearing. He instinctively took a step closer to Ellis, and raised his gun. "Watch your six!" He shouted, eventually tearing his gaze from the ever growing fire and glancing around the clearing, where there was currently no signs of the raptors. "Raptors got a new alpha!"

The unit moved as one, further into the jungle, following the sounds of the hybrid. Every man and women's weapon was secured firmly in their hands, ready to fire at any potential threat. That's when the attack came, not from the front or the direction that the unit was heading, but from every possible side and angle. Raptors jumped out from places the mercenaries didn't even realise they had been hiding and took down any man that was unfortunate enough to get in their way. They slashed at skin with fervent vengeance, ripping it open with the use of the six inch claws on either foot and disembowelling their prey in one fell swoop. In one gruesome moment, the clearing came alive with the screams of the dying, and those who were still unlucky enough to be alive found themselves slowly being picked off one by one by a team of the most deadly pack hunters the world has ever known.

* * *

Back in the control room Hoskins' watched in horror as his seemingly perfect plan, fell to pieces before his very eyes. On the screens, men and women were dying, their helmet cameras projecting their final waking moments onto the large screen that took up an entire wall on one side of the room. The entire control room was silent, everyone's eyes fixated on the screens in front of them, watching as the horror unfolded. Without a word, Vic Hoskins lowered the radio he had been screaming into moments before, placed it down onto Lowery's desk and turned, leaving the room entirely. Lowery himself watched the screens, unblinking, waiting to catch a glimpse of Ellis but deep down hoping that he wouldn't. Inside he was screaming, cursing himself for ever letting her out of his sight, he'd already lost her once today and now, there was a very real possibility that he was going to lose her again.

* * *

Owen and Ellis found themselves separated from the rest of the unit, a little further into the jungle where the bushes and shrubs were more overgrown, come way up above the height of Ellis' waist. She had no combat training, and she could feel her hands shaking with fear as she turned her rifle to aim towards everything that sounded around them. Owen on the other hand was hard faced, undeterred by their impending doom, and perhaps more alert than he had been in years as the adrenaline pumped around his body. The pair of them moved silently through the trees, stopping only when Owen held up a fist, signalling them to do so.

No more than a couple of feet away, a thick, dark green tail with vertical stripes stuck up high above the grass. Ellis clenched her teeth as she listened to Charlie tear through a man's flesh with her jaws and had to do everything in her power to stop herself from closing her eyes and hiding away behind Owen. When Charlie eventually straightened up, blood dripped from her jaws and ragged flesh hung from her mouth, caught between razor sharp teeth. The velociraptor stared at its two handlers and in silence, Ellis and Owen stared right back. Charlie sniffed at the air and chirped once, her last act before she met her end when an InGen missile made a direct hit, blowing the dinosaur into a thousand pieces and sending both Ellis and Owen flying a couple of feet through the air.

When they landed, Ellis stayed down, clutching at her cracked rib as pain seared through every fibre of her body, Owen on the other hand sat up, watching the remains of Charlie burn a few feet away. From her position on the ground, Ellis could see the flames reflected in Owen's eyes and despite the fact that the velociraptors had very much turned on them, she couldn't help but be overcome by a wave of sadness at the thought that one of their raptors had perished.

"Elle, can you get up?" Owen whispered after a second or two, Ellis nodded, taking his outstretched hand and allowing Owen to pull her to her feet despite the pain that now radiated through pretty much every inch of her body. "Where's Barry, do you remember where you last saw Barry?"

"I..I…no, I don't."

A shout in the distance caught both of their attentions; they'd know that smooth French accent anywhere, even here in a warzone straight out of one of their very worst nightmares. "Barry." They said in unison before taking off in the direction of their colleagues shout. Those InGen mercenaries that were still alive took the vehicles and left whilst they still had their lives. The only one left behind being Owen's Scrambler.

When Ellis and Owen finally located Barry he was trapped inside a hollow log, above him Blue scratched at the thick wood with her claws, attempting to pierce it and devour her prey which lay inside.

"Blue!" Barry shouted repeatedly, willing the animal to at least do him the courtesy of recognising his voice. For a moment it seemed to work, Blue stopped and peered a reptilian eye through the hole she had created. She stared at Barry and he watched her closely, but just as quickly as it had arrived the moment passed and Blue once again went back to working tirelessly to get through the wood.

Owen picked up his Scrambler, throwing one leg over to steady it between his thighs. Ellis climbed on behind him, securing her rifle over her shoulder and wrapping her arms tightly around Owen's waist. Both of them watched Blue in horror, knowing that she would not stop until she got what she wanted, unless something else caught her eye. With this in mind, Owen whistled loudly, pulling Blue's attention away from Barry. He kick started the Scrambler and headed off into the forest, Blue immediately following on behind.

At the paddock, Claire dropped the tablet, her hands shaking in front of her. "Oh my god." She said quietly, to no one in particular but herself.

"Is everybody dead?" Gray's voice behind her made her jump, but the redhead turned towards him with a fake smile.

"Oh no, no everybody's fine."

"Don't lie to him." Zach countered.

"He's scared! It's okay to lie to people when they're scared!"

"I want to go home!" Gray whimpered.

"Oh sweetie you will, okay, I promise. Tomorrow you will be home and…your mother will never let me see you again…"

Zach was about to argue back when a bloodied hand collided with the driver's side window, causing all three of them inside the van to scream out loud. Outside one of the InGen mercenaries banged on the window a second time, his eyes wide and terrified. "Get out of here, go!"

Claire didn't need telling twice and immediately turned the key in the ignition, kicking the van into life. Around the back the man pulled the heavy duty doors open and was about to climb in when a raptor pounced on him from behind, sinking her six in claw deep into his spinal cord and paralysing him instantly. Zach and Gray screamed again, and began bashing on the window that separated them from their aunt. "Go aunt Claire, go, go, drive!"

The van hurtled forwards, and Claire drove with no real direction in mind other than _away_ from where they had been. As they drove, the velociraptors chased down the vehicle, and from inside the back of the van, Zach and Gray began hurling anything that wasn't bolted down out at their assailants, missing almost every time. The younger of the Mitchell brothers eventually grabbed what appeared to be a cow prodder from the far wall, handing it to his elder brother.

"Turn it on!" He pressured Zach, his voice cracking with fear.

"I don't know how." Zach replied shakily as a raptor made the successful leap into the back of the van.

The boys worked together, Zach pointing the prodder and Gray flicking the switch which eventually kicked the contraption into life. At its tip an electrical spark crackled loudly and when it came into contact with the raptor, she convulsed violently before rolling backwards, out of the van and along the road.

"Yes!" The boys cheered, raising their arms in celebration.

"Hey look!" Zach pointed into the distance where the shape of Owen Grady's motorcycle was slowly becoming clearer. "Owen!" He cheered again.

As the bike got closer, it became apparent that there were two riders and at the sight of Ellis, Gray physically jumped for joy. "Yes, Ellis! Woo! Did you see that, did you see what we did!" He shouted gleefully. "I can't wait to tell my mom."

"Oh please, please never tell your mother that…ever." Claire shouted back from up front.

Owen accelerated; bringing the bike up alongside the driver's side window, as she drove Claire glanced sideways towards him, her heart skipping at the sight of him after being so sure that he'd died. "We've got to get indoors, follow me." Claire did as she was told and followed Owen and Ellis on the bike as best she could, despite the tears that blurred her vision.

In the distance the Indominus Rex roared loudly and the raptors that had been pursuing the vehicles slowed to a halt, eventually turning away all together and heading into the forest in search of their alpha.

* * *

"Is this what you had in mind?" Lowery muttered bitterly as he watched the evacuation of the docks up on the big screens. Around him the InGen workers slowly got to their feet, clearing away their laptops and other tech that they'd brought in with them earlier that afternoon. It didn't take long for him to realise that they were packing up to leave, and when he did he got slowly to his feet only to be met by Vivian who had her jacket held tightly in her hands and fresh tear tracks down her cheeks. "Hey…"

"They said we have to evacuate." Vivian explained quietly "there's a boat. You coming?"

Lowery looked from Vivian to the screens and then back at Vivian once more. She blinked up at him, waiting patiently for his response. He'd known Viv for a couple of years now; they'd started working on the island in the same week when the control room was half the size that it was today. There had been a time when he'd half expected that they might fall into some awkward relationship, but he'd soon realised that he saw her as much more of a sister figure than anything else. He sighed quietly as he considered her question, Lowery Cruthers had never been particularly brave, nor had he ever done anything of any real importance with his life, but today he knew he was going to change that.

"No." He stated simply, "someone has to stay behind, and there's not a chance in hell I'm leaving this island without Ellis by my side."

Vivian smiled, "you love her huh?"

"I…" Lowery scratched at the back of his head, momentarily breaking Vivian's gaze. "Yeah, I guess I do and she doesn't know that yet."

"Then you should stay."

"Yeah."

"Are you gonna be okay?"

"What? No, yeah…sure. I'll be fine."

"Good luck Lowery." Vivian leaned towards him and placed a gentle kiss against his cheek then pulled away and headed towards the elevator along with the rest of the control room staff, leaving Lowery completely alone.

* * *

 **A/N: New year, new me. I officially only have around 20 minutes left of the movie to write, and so in theory Insatiable could be finished completely in around 2-3 chapters. I never thought I'd see the day. I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone that's followed/favourited and taken the time to review this fic. You all mean so much to me. Hopefully you've enjoyed this chapter. As usual if you want to see any Ellis edits head to jurassicinsatiable on tumblr where you can find a tonne. If you have time, please leave a review and once again, thank you for sticking around I know i'm awful!**


	17. Chapter 17

Downstairs in the laboratories, things were moving quickly. Henry Wu was doing his very best to bat away InGen workers who man handled fragile specimens in a way that would have any self-respecting scientist on the floor in a weeping mess. "Everything must be accounted for." He stated as he turned up the sleeves of his black roll neck sweater. Around him, embryos, eggs, samples and various pieces of research were being carefully packed into nitrogen cooled containers and shipped out of the room in large cargo boxes. They were clearing out, evacuating the labs completely and leaving no trace of their previous work behind. What Henry didn't realise was that they weren't just moving the research into storage on the island; they were taking it much further afield than that. "I want all back-up generators online." Henry moved to the far side of the room, where a keypad was mounted to a seemingly ordinary white wall. He glanced over his shoulder as he keyed in the passcode, ensuring that no one else was watching him do it before pushing open the door to the previously hidden laboratory on the other side of the wall.

When his phone rang, Wu glanced at the caller ID for a moment before bring the receiver to his ear and taking Vic Hoskins' call. "Where have you been?" He demanded in hushed tones.

"Change of plans," Vic's voice responded. "Thing's took a jog to the left, I'm taking everything off site."

Wu faltered. "The embryos are safe here…they can live up to eight weeks on the generators."

"No, no, no you listen. Parks going to be chapter eleven by morning okay? Our little side project is about to get shot in the arm I don't want the lawyers messing around with something that they don't understand. You get it?" Hoskins' tone was urgent and not one that Henry felt would be easy to disagree with. When he didn't answer Vic spoke again. "I'm going to take that as a yes."

Hoskins ended the call and for a short while Henry Wu merely stood in the same spot, staring as the contents of his lab were packed away, ready to be sent god only knew where. This was the second time this had happened to him, his life's work, research that he put his heart and soul into taken away from him in the blink of an eye. At least this time Henry knew for certain that it wasn't the last he'd seen of his creations, himself and Hoskins had been planning for months and there was always a contingency plan.

With everything accounted for and safely packaged ready for transfer, Wu was finally ready to say goodbye to his laboratory, and he did so solemnly, knowing that depending on the outcome of the day's events, he may never return to Isla Nublar again, nor will he ever be allowed to work in the field of genetics ever again. Not legally at least. He was escorted by two InGen mercenaries to the helipad where a large black chopper was waiting for him. Clambering in he rested his silver briefcase across his thighs, he'd personally seen to it that the most precious of research was carried by him and him alone; there was less room for error that way. "Where's Hoskins?" He asked as he settled himself into the chopper.

"He's sending you and the assets to a secure location." One of the mercenaries explained.

"But our deal is still intact?" Wu asked cautiously.

"Don't worry," the man rolled his eyes. "You'll be well taken care of. C'mon let's go."

With that the rotator blades of the helicopter whirred into action, spinning at such a speed that it caused a gust of wind to swirl violently around the helipad. The chopper lifted slowly into the air and as it did so Henry Wu looked out of the window. He could see Main Street, still covered in debris from the pteradon attacks that afternoon. Somewhere in the jungle a fire blazed brightly, licking up the lengths of even the tallest trees and bringing the canopy to life in a ball of brilliant orange flames. In the distance cruise liners docked at the bay, and Henry wondered how many thousands of people were boarding them, he chose not to think about how countless people wouldn't be going home today, or ever again, and how that was almost entirely his fault.

* * *

The radio that was miraculously still clipped to the waistline of Ellis' jean shorts crackled and she carefully unhooked one arm from its previous position, clinging tightly to Owen's waist. She picked up the radio and pressed the transmitter button. "Lowery?" She asked hopefully, bringing the radio up to her lips and doing her very best to keep a tight hold of Owen with her remaining, good, arm.

In the control room, Lowery breathed a sigh of relief at the sound of her voice and grinned as he responded. "Yes, yeah, it's me. Are you on the way back? Is everyone safe…is anyone hurt?"

"We're all…" Ellis paused for a moment, thinking over exactly what it was she wanted to say. Fine would be her immediate response, but it would also be a complete lie. Each and every one of them was the furthest from fine they'd probably ever been. Some of them had physical injuries, and she didn't doubt that all of them had suffered psychologically at some point this afternoon. Ellis Grant was fairly sure that the day's events would haunt her and her companions for as long as they lived, so fine didn't really cut it. "…yeah we're on the way back, me, Owen, Claire and the boys. What's happening up there? Has everyone been evacuated?"

"The evacuation is underway at the docks; almost everyone is off the island. Wu has evacuated the labs and all staff are waiting to get on the last boat back to Costa Rica. What happened with the Indominus, are you guys evacuating too?"

Ellis sighed quietly. "She's still out there; me and Owen aren't going anywhere until she's contained." In front of her Owen glanced in his rear view mirror, making eye contact with his best friend and nodding, they were going to stick it out until the very end. "Could you call a chopper Lowery? Get Zach, Gray and Claire off the island and back to their families."

"Of course yeah, but I'll have to wait until Wu has taken off." Lowery's response puzzled her and Ellis frowned before she brought the radio back to her lips.

"What do you mean taken off?"

Lowery sat forward in his chair, pulling up the live video surveillance of the helipad, he watched Wu climb into the helicopter, clinging tightly to a mysterious looking silver briefcase. "I'm watching him now; he's getting in a helicopter. It's uh, it's leaving."

Ellis frowned. "…and Hoskins?"

"I'm not sure where he is, I can't find see him on any of the park surveillance cameras."

"Keep looking, we're almost at Main Street."

Breathing out heavily Lowery surveyed the plethora of screens in front of him. For a moment he was daunted, having never been completely alone in the control room before and only just now realising that he truly was the only technician left, but the moment passed almost as soon as it had arrived and he was soon cracking each one of his knuckles individually before getting to work. He clicked effortlessly through the streams of live video surveillance, expertly disregarding anything that wasn't relevant as he searched for the face of Vic Hoskins. It took a while, but he eventually found him. The large, rounded, man was hurrying through the main entrance to the Innovation Centre and towards the Hammond Creation Lab. From what Lowery could see, Hoskins was speaking hastily into a handheld radio, using his other hand to accentuate his words, despite the fact that whoever was on the other end of the radio couldn't see him doing it.

"I see you." Lowery smirked bringing the image up on the screen in front of him and poking his finger over Hoskins' face on the screen.

"What was that?" Ellis' voice in his ear caused Lowery to jump, he'd failed to stop the transmission of their own conversation, and she'd heard his sadistic mutterings loud and clear.

"Oh! I err, I found him. He's heading towards the Creation Lab, on the radio to someone…looked pissed."

"Who's he speaking to?" Ellis' voice was urging and Lowery pulled a face, the surveillance only showed images, not sound.

"I have absolutely no idea."

"Can't you hack the frequency?"

"What do you think I am?"

"I don't know, _brilliant_?" Lowery smiled at her response. "What about a piggyback data slurp?" Ellis asked.

He thought over her suggestion, drumming his fingers against the keyboard in front of him. It could work, though it wasn't something that would get them information immediately, it was more of a long term plan, but a good one he thought. A piggyback slurp was the sort of corporate espionage that was usually only heard of in fiction, but that had been prominent in the 80s between large tech companies trying to one up each other. Its principles were essentially simple; a terminal linkup was inserted between two terminals, usually by way of a telephone line though Lowery figured a terminal linkup to a satellite couldn't be all that hard. The linkup would then silently monitor the back and forth transmissions between the two satellite radios, before eventually the piggyback operator would know enough about both sides to be able to make their own transmissions, slurping out data from each side. In time Lowery would be able to pretend to be Hoskins to whoever his mystery caller was, and vice versa.

"Now that," Lowery started with a grin as he started furiously typing out his data slurp code "that is brilliant. You are brilliant Ellis Grant. Has anyone ever told you that before? I can't hack the frequency, because god only knows which one they're using. But a linkup on the closest satellite…that just might work."

As the motorcycle both her and Owen were riding on pulled into Main Street, Ellis released a shallow breath, they were so close to the end that she could almost taste it. All they had to do now was get Zach, Gray and Claire safely off the island, figure out a way to capture the Indominus Rex and then, when all of that was done, get a well-deserved drink. Disregarding Lowery's compliments Ellis clambered off the motorcycle, bringing the receiver up to her lips once again. "We're here." She announced, and Lowery immediately brought up a surveillance feed, zooming in on her face. It was grubby, bruised and covered in a faint smattering of blood, but she'd never looked more beautiful.

"Choppers on its way." He watched the image of her displayed on his screen intently, taking note of the way his heart raced a little more at the sight of her. "You should get on it, all of you, let ACU finish off here…"

"Lowery…you know I…we…we need to stay. You know that."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I don't wish you'd listen to me for once."

Ellis ran a hand through her matted hear, frowning slightly when her fingers became tangled. "When we get off this island, I promise to do nothing but listen to you."

Lowey laughed. "I'll believe that when I see it."

"I'll see you soon." Ellis' thumb released the button, ending their transmission. She clipped the radio back onto her jeans shorts, taking a small amount of comfort in having Lowery so close to her, and then she turned towards Owen who had walked away momentarily to help Claire and the boys out of the van they'd driven to Main Street in.

Main Street itself was an eerie reminder of the day's events, as whilst there wasn't a soul to be seen, devastation still littered every available floor space. Tables, chairs and parasols, which had once stood outside the streets various bars and eateries, now lay strewn in pieces across the concrete floor. Vehicles lay overturned, abandoned in the road and what Ellis could only assume was blood splattered almost every available surface in one way or another. Darkness had quickly descended on the island and the night sky had brought a chill with it, one that made Ellis clutch at her exposed arms in an attempt to conserve what little warmth she had left. It was deathly silent, besides the automated female voice of the tannoy system which Owen smirked at.

 _"_ _Thank you for visiting Jurassic World, we hope you enjoyed your adventure. Don't forget to visit the gift shop, and remember it's always happy hour at Margaritaville!"_

Ellis' gaze followed Owens' pointed finger and settled on the destroyed remains of the gift shop. Outside the once illuminated sign now hung limply from one lone wire, flashing sporadically. The poster to the store boasted that the island was an 'unforgettable experience' and Ellis shuddered, she certainly wouldn't be forgetting Jurassic World in a hurry, she doubted anyone would.

"Creepy." Zach muttered, straightening up a little when everyone turned to look at him. "What? It is."

"You're right kid." Owen agreed, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he spoke. "C'mon, let's get inside before…" His voice trailed off into silence, thinking better of finishing his sentence, despite the fact that everyone knew exactly what he'd been about to say. _Before that thing finds us_.

Wordlessly Owen, Ellis, Claire and the Mitchell brothers all headed towards the innovation centre, picking up the pace a little as they walked – spurred on by the sound of an ever approaching helicopter.

In the main entrance hall, Gray took a moment to look around, taking it all in again, but in a completely different way to the way he had done when he'd first arrived on the island. Then, he had looked at everything with innocent eyes and an overwhelming sense of wonder. Now, he walked cautiously through the building, eyeing up the displays with distrust. His childlike fascination with Jurassic World and the animals it housed was long gone, replaced instead with a sense of fear fuelled respect for the creatures he'd encountered that day. His older brother noticed him dawdling, and doubled back, placing a reassuring hand on Gray's shoulder and urging him to move forwards and to follow the adults.

They hurried through the Hammond Creation Lab, down the corridor that was enclosed on all sides by the floor to ceiling glass walls of the Jurassic World laboratories. As they ran they heard the smashing of glass, and Claire Dearing slowed to a halt, stopping to pear through one of the glass panels into the laboratory on the opposite side. On the other side of the glass the laboratory lay in disarray, and on the far side a door she had never seen before was ajar, allowing them view into a room she hadn't even known existed. As operations manager she found it hard to believe that there was a room so close to the centre of everything that she hadn't known about and yet here it was, right in front of her eyes.

"They evacuated the lab…" she breathed out. Ellis stepped towards Claire, glancing over the redheads shoulder towards the room that Claire was looking at.

"What is that place?"

A miniscule shake of Claire's head affirmed that she hadn't the faintest idea what the room was, or what was going on for that matter. For the first time in the many months Ellis had known Claire Dearing, the operations manager appeared to be lost for words and Ellis couldn't find it in herself to be smug about it. When the redhead stepped forward into the laboratory, Ellis followed suit and the pair were quickly followed by Owen and the boys as they headed further into the room, careful not to tread on anything sharp as they navigated the sea of broken glass on the floor.

The room they found themselves in appeared to be tropical in temperature, the air was thick and humid and a faint beeping could be heard, emitted from a small machine on the far side of the room that appeared to be running the numerous tanks that littered the room. The tanks were temperature controlled and each housed a different weird and wonderful creature. Ellis moved her face so close to the class that her breath caused condensation to form against the pane in front of her, when she wiped the glass with her hand she was met with the beady eyes of a lizard, one which was covered in what appeared to be either feathers or fur, not the usual scales one would expect. Whilst she stared at the lizard, and it stared back at her, the creatures unusual hide changed colour before her eyes, turning from a soft turquoise to a more offensive cerise. Ellis' own dark eyes widened at the sight and she whipped her head to the left, attempting to capture the attention of Claire who was stood beside her.

Claire didn't bother to look at Ellis' despite knowing full well that the Grant girl wanted her to do just that. Instead she stared dumbfounded at the albino snake in the tank in front of her. Whilst an all-white, albino snake with deep red eyes wasn't that far out of the ordinary, the fact that it had two heads, both of whom appeared to be sizing the operations manager up did concern her somewhat.

They'd all been so preoccupied and fascinated by the contents of the various tanks in the room that not one of them had noticed that they weren't alone in there. It was only when two burly looking men emerged, from what Ellis could only assume was some sort of storage cupboard, carrying a large container between the pair of them that they all came to and started paying attention. Claire's breath hitched in her throat at the sight of the men and she uttered a sound of disbelief.

"W-what are you doing?" She questioned, to no one in particular.

"I'm afraid that's above your pay grade honey." Vic Hoskins' voice entered the room long before he sauntered into it himself. He watched as the men carefully carried out the nitrogen cooled container before he turned his attention towards Claire.

"Where've you sent Dr Wu?" Ellis asked, her toned laced with an obvious distaste for the man stood before her.

Hoskins smirked as he walked further into the room. Whilst he couldn't admit that he wasn't slightly disappointed that both Ellis and Owen had survived the Indominus attack when the majority of his own men hadn't, he was still riding the high that the millions of dollars currently being wired into his bank account had provided. "Dr Wu works for us." He announced, as though were answer enough to any questions Ellis, or any of the others might have.

Ellis' lips formed a thin line and she narrowed her eyes at the man before her. She'd loathed him for as long as she'd known him, but today she particularly disliked him more than she ever had done in the past. "We know you're planning something, and we're not going to let you get away with it."

"You're too late to stop me Grant." Vic commented dryly, laughing has he did so.

She was going to bite back a response about how whatever his plan was, it wasn't going to work, but from the smug look that was plastered across his heinous face, it seemed as though it already had, or was well on its way to working at the very least. Instead Ellis chose to stare at him with stony, defiant silence knowing full well that Lowery Cruthers was in the control room upstairs, writing a code for a data slurp that would help him, and the authorities listen into everything Hoskins did the moment he left the island.

For a short while the small group of survivors all stood huddled together, staring down Victor Hoskins who stood with his chest puffed out proudly, peacocking on the other side of the room. Eventually, Gray Mitchell stepped out from his previously protected position behind Owen Grady and nodded towards one of the computer screens on the far side of the room. "That's not a real dinosaur." He said in a small voice, it was neither a question nor a statement, but Vic nodded at him nonetheless.

"No," he shook his head, "it aint kid...but somebody has got to make sure that this company has a future." He pointed towards the screen that Gray had motioned to previously. "Imagine, that one, a fraction of the size. Deadly, intelligent, able to hide from the most advanced military technology, a living weapon unlike anything we've ever seen. You see, millions of years of evolution, what did we learn?"

Owen and Ellis wore the same expression, eyes narrowed and eyebrows knitted into stern frowns. The young Mitchell brothers stared at Vic, perplexed by his words, not fully understanding the gravity of the situation and Claire Dearing pursed her lips.

"Nothing, you've clearly not learnt anything…after all that has happened today, the people that have died…" Ellis spat.

Hoskins shook his head, no. "We learnt that nature is the gift that keeps…" his sentence was cut short when a vicious snarl ripped through the air, tearing all attention away from Victor Hoskins and placing it firmly on the velociraptor that had entered the room. "Oh shit!"

The animal moved lightly, bobbing its head. Her retractable claw tapped rhythmically against the hard floor, making a soft and ominous ticking sound, the only one that could be heard in the room given that every human besides Owen and Ellis were holding their breath, paralysed by fear. The dinosaur advanced towards Vic and he instinctively took a step backwards, holding his hands up in surrender to the velociraptor.

"Easy, easy…" He stammered. "Easy boy, easy." He was backed up against a glass door now, on the opposite side of the room to the only people that realistically stood any chance of helping him. Fear was evident in his expression, and had long since replaced the look of smug satisfaction that had been plastered on his face only moments ago. Now he bore the expression of a man who was fearing for his life, and rightly so. "Hey, hey," he whimpered "w-we're on the same side. Right? We're on the same side." He was grasping now, clinging to the hope that the velociraptors could be controlled, that they understood, listened to and respected the humans around them. "Easy…" Hoskins held a shaking hand up towards Delta, who moved her large head this way and that, closely surveying each thick finger on the forelimb of the creature in front of her.

The next sequence of events happened in seemingly slow motion. Delta took a fraction of a step backwards, away from Hoskins. A hint of a smile ghosted across his lips and a wave of momentary relief washed over him as the dinosaur seemed to back down. Then, all at once, and with speeds Ellis had never seen any of the raptors move with before, Delta lunged forwards. The dinosaur engulfed Hoskins' arms in her jaw seemingly whole and then bit down hard. The scream of anguish that came from the man's lips was like nothing Ellis, nor anyone she was stood with, had ever heard before. She clenched her jaw tightly, trying her very best not to imagine the agonising pain Hoskins was currently experiencing. Ellis didn't like the man, that was no secret, but the velociraptors had a bite pressure of fifteen thousand pounds a square inch, similar to hyenas, able to bite through steel, and so bones would be no match for the sheer power behind Delta's jaws. Ellis instinctively turned away as Delta's hind leg lifted into the air, slashing at Hoskins' abdomen with ease. There was a sound of ripping flesh, and of intestines exploding from their previous confined position. Ellis didn't need to look to know what was happening, her father had described velociraptor hunts to her in enough detail as a child for her to know exactly what was going on. She moved her hand to cover Zach's eyes, the seventeen year old had closed them the moment Delta had surged forwards, but he took comfort in the elder girls touch and instinctively he wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer for both comfort and guidance as Ellis began to move both him and his younger brother out of the room.

Owen took hold of Claire's hand, the sensation sending a shockwave through her body and forcing her to turn away from the gruesome scene in front of her. With his other hand Owen stroked a thumb across her cheek, silently making sure she was okay to move. Claire nodded quickly and soon the pair were running out of the room after Ellis and the boys.

They had originally planned to run up to the control room to meet Lowery and then move on to the helipad whether the chopper had no doubt landed by now, but that option was taken away from them when Delta crashed through the large glass panel that separated the group from the room they had previously been standing in. Whilst the dinosaur regained her composure, having momentarily been disorientated by the impact, the group turned on their heels and ran in the opposite direction, back towards Main Street, as fast as their feet would allow.

As they hurtled through the entrance hall, with Delta hot on their tails, Gray Mitchell slammed a hand down on the interactive menu in the centre of the room. His action brought up a holographic dinosaur, a dilophosaurus that took a defensive stance, her frilled plumage billowing out around her smaller face. Delta skidded to a halt, unaware that the animal in front of her was a trick of the light and not really there at all. Her large, powerful jaws snapped at the dilophosaurus and for a moment she forgot about running down her prey, giving Owen and the rest of the group the chance to push open the heavy door and run down the steps and onto Main Street.

Owen Grady stopped suddenly and Ellis had to lunge to the side to stop herself from running into the back of him. For a moment she glared at him, her dark eyes wide and questioning, silently asking him why he'd decided to stop dead in the middle of the street when a prehistoric apex predator was moments away from catching up to them. But then she saw it, the way Owen's right hand was brought up in front of his body, how he showed his palm and instinctively sheltered Claire and the boys with his outstretched left arm. Her gaze followed the length of Owen's arm, before finally being met with the beady eyes of Blue, who still had the camera piece headset strapped firmly around her two foot long head.

A chilling roar erupted from the pit of Blue's chest and was immediately followed by one not too dissimilar by Delta who had charged through the large doors that had been trapping her in the Creation Lab building. A low hissing erupted from Echo, who had soundlessly appeared to the left of Ellis and in mere seconds all three raptors had the group surrounded. Whilst Owen stared at Blue, Ellis did the same with Echo, a tense stalemate in which no parties involved were willing to back down. Claire, Zach and Gray twisted their heads this way and that, each of them trying to keep tabs on all three of the velociraptors, hoping that if the animals knew that they were being watched, then they would not attack.

"That's how it is huh?" Owen spoke, careful to keep the tone of his voice regular and inoffensive.

Blue took a daring step forwards.

"Owen…" Ellis warned, she was yet to take her eyes off of Echo, but could just about make out Blue's advances in her peripheral vision. Her heart was beating so hard in her chest that she could barely even feel her feet on the ground let alone hear her own voice, but she knew that Owen had heard her.

Owen bent his legs at the knees, moving to drop his gun down onto the ground, an act that he hoped Blue would take note of. He was not a threat to neither her nor her pack, he had never been her enemy and he never would be. The dinosaur watched him carefully and hissed a warning as the metal contraption came into contact with the hard concrete ground. "It's okay." He said quietly, moving a fraction of an inch closer to Blue who was no longer baring her teeth, a good sign. "Easy…" Owen whispered as he took another step closer. Blue snapped at his outstretched hand, clamping her jaws about a foot away from him, a warning shot, telling him not to get too close. "Easy." He said again, this time a little louder, and with a nod for good measure. A small smile pulled at the corner of his lips, contradicting the beads of sweat that were running down his forehead and dampening his collar at the nape of his neck.

Claire, Gray and Zach watched with a mixture of terror and amazement as Owen's right hand brushed against the side of Blue's head, moving painfully slowly until it finally reached the clip of the headpiece she was still wearing. When he found it he unclipped it in one swift movement and the headpiece slid off the dinosaurs head, falling to the ground with a small clatter.

"That's it…" Owen whispered again, unable to hide his smile now, it was wide and one of the utmost pride. Beside him Ellis smiled too, proud of her best friend for finally achieving what it was they'd both been working towards the entire time they'd spent together on the island.

"You did it…" She breathed with a soft nervous laugh, astonished that Owen's, quite frankly; reckless idea had seemed to work.

Owen took the moment of calm to tear his gaze away from Blue and for a second he and Ellis made eye contact, both of their smiles completely illuminating their weary features the moment they looked at one another. The moment was short lived however, as a deafening roar ripped through the perfect silence causing them both to turn their attention to the end of the street where the Indominus Rex was emerging from behind a, now somewhat, dilapidated shop front.

Blue and the raptors heard it too, and all of them turned to face their new alpha. The Indominus took one large step closer to them, her gait much larger than that of the raptors and bringing her to such a distance that Ellis could already start to smell the stench of early decay that seemed to linger wherever the Indominus Rex went. The hybrid clicked its jaw, making sounds that Ellis knew from experience to be language, communicating with the velociraptors that surrounded the small group of humans. Blue turned her head back towards the group, and Owen again raised his right hand.

Man and beast made eye contact and Blue raised her head, chattering her jaws and making sounds that Ellis had never heard her make before. From the look on his face, Owen had understood Blue completely and with a smirk he lowered his arm, pressed his lips together and whistled loudly, signalling for the raptors to attack.

Blue turned first with a vicious roar that seemed to start at the pit of her stomach and explode out of her. She bore her teeth, and poised her two forelimbs for attack. The attack never came however, as the Indominus Rex rose one muscled forelimb and swiped at the much smaller dinosaur in front of her. The force of the attack flung Blue's, now limp, body some ten metres before she came to a crashing halt, shattering the glass of a Starbucks store window and falling lifelessly to the ground. Ellis called out, and, acting on instinct, surged forwards wanting to tend to the animal that she had come to love over the past year that she'd spent on the island. Zach and Gray grabbed the hem of Ellis' shirt, preventing her from moving from their huddle of bodies, which were now only protected by the two remaining raptors, Delta and Echo.

Both velociraptors took off at the exact same moment, teaming up to attack the hybrid together. They jumped, kicking off the ground with their powerful hind legs and gathering remarkable height until both dinosaurs had mounted the hybrid. They stood on her back, biting at her hide and slashing at her thick skin with their sickle like claws. The noise was deafening, roars of both pain and anger coming from all three dinosaurs.

Taking full advantage of the momentary distraction, Owen grabbed Claire's hand and started running. Ellis swung her rifle over her shoulder took Zach's hand in one of hers, and Gray's in the other and followed barely inches behind Owen and Claire. They weaved their way around obstacles, barely dodging the fight in the centre of the street and occasionally having to duck as the Indominus Rex swung its immense tail. Owen steered them all to the opposite side of the street, shouting for them to take shelter inside a small gift stall. Zach and Gray climbed in first, crawling over the counter top and taking refuge on the floor against the far wall. Claire followed and then, with them out of harm's way, Ellis grabbed her rifle again and aimed it towards the Indominus Rex. She moved to stand beside Owen who had sheltered himself behind a large ornamental piece of amber. Together they fired off more rounds than Ellis could keep count of, doing their very best to cause maximum damage to the hybrid, without putting either of the velociraptors in any more danger than they already found themselves in.

The more Owen and Ellis shot at the creature, the violent it became and once the Indominus Rex was able to capture Delta between her jaws, she flung the much smaller animal across the street, straight through an opening and into a burning grill where Delta was immediately incinerated. The smell of burning flesh stung the inside of Ellis' nostrils and as smoke billowed up into the air she glanced towards Owen. "This isn't working…" She yelled over the sound of yet another deafening roar from the hybrid as it continued to battle with Echo. "The bullets don't even pierce its hide." Despite her words, she shot off another couple of rounds, although each round fired appeared to be in vain. "We need something…something bigger."

"More teeth!" Gray Mitchell had stood up, in a flash of momentary bravery. He cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice and shouted again. "We need more teeth!"

With that, Claire Dearing wrapped a hand around her nephew's waist and pulled him back down onto the ground and to safety.

"What does he mean more teeth?" Owen grumbled, loading his final clip into his gun. "We have more than enough teeth to be dealing with right now…"

"No, Ow he's right…" Ellis lowered her weapon until it was flat on the ground. Owen watched in shock as she did so and pulled a face the moment the turned to look back towards him. "I know what we need to do, go to Claire and the boys, get them away and make sure that they're safe."

No sooner had she finished her sentence, the Indominus Rex caught Echo in her jaws and clamped down hard. The velociraptors body went limp in death and the hybrid turned its large head to the side, launching Echo away from herself as she did so. Now completely undistracted, the hybrid turned its attention back to the humans that had been shooting at it. Owen and Ellis exchanged a glance before nodding at one another and immediately getting to their feet.

Owen moved quickly towards the gift stall where Claire and the boys where still taking refuge. Ellis moved with him, though she did not climb over the counter top as he had done, instead she reached inside the stall, grabbing the first aid box and ripping it open.

"What are you looking for?" Zach asked, his voice quiet and his tone a far cry from the overly confident teenager he'd been that afternoon. Ellis didn't answer him, instead she grabbed what it was she needed and psyched herself up to leave.

"Be safe." Owen demanded.

"Always am." Ellis lied.

With that, they parted ways. Owen stayed behind, protecting the boys and Claire as best he could and Ellis ran as fast as her booted feet would carry her down Main Street and towards one of the park's main attractions.

As she ran, Ellis unclipped the radio from her shorts for the final time, bringing it up to her lips. "Lowery, can you hear me?" Her voice was ragged, breathless from the exertion. Sweat streamed down her forehead, drenching her hair and causing it to stick to every exposed inch of her skin. The air around her felt thick and with every crashing step her foot made on the ground, she felt more and more lightheaded. Ellis wasn't sure if it was the humidity or the adrenaline, but the more she ran the more the world seemed to slow down around her. Eventually her breathing steadied and she came to a halt; in front of her was an enormous fortified door, one that dwarfed her completely. "Lowery?" She asked again, much quieter, calmer this time.

"I'm here." Lowery's voice crackled out of the receiver.

"I need you to open Paddock nine…"

"Paddock nine?" Lowery furiously punched a sequence of keys, bringing up the unlocking mechanism for paddock nine on the screen in front of him. On the other screen he brought up the live feed of the paddock nine gate, sure enough, and much to his dismay, Ellis Grant was stood at the foot of the gate, gazing upwards. "…tell me you're kidding."

The sound of the camera moving to look at her caught Ellis' attention and she glanced up to her right, away from the gate for the first time since she'd arrived there moments ago. She couldn't see Lowery, but she knew full well that he would be watching her every move, scrutinising her decisions and desperately thinking of a way to talk her out of them.

"Lowery please…"

"Ellis if I open that door you'll die." He shook his head as he spoke into the mouthpiece of his radio headset.

"If you don't open it we'll all die. At least this way some of us will have a chance to get off this island."

"This is insane, you're insane."

Ellis pulled the cap off the flare she'd picked up from the medical kit and immediately a brilliantly bright white light emitted from its tip. For a moment, Lowery lost her on the screen, blinding by the sudden brightness. After a moment his eyes adjusted and he could just about make out the silhouette of her, of Ellis Robyn Grant. She was illuminated like an angel, and it was in that moment he knew that no matter what he said to her, how much he begged her to change her mind, she never would. How stubborn she was, was one of the many things he loved about her. Love. Lowery Cruthers was in love with Ellis, he loved everything there was to love about her, he loved her smile, her intelligence, her kindness and her penchant for fedora hats. He loved that she always put other people first, and that she always kept a cool head, no matter what the situation. He ran through all the things that he loved about her as he keyed in the passcode to unlock the gates of paddock nine, repeating them over and over to himself in his head.

In front of Ellis a flashing red light indicated that the gate was about to open and as the metal doors slowly began to part, Ellis held her breath, her grip tightening on the flare.

"Lowery…" Her voice into the receiver was nothing more than a whisper. "I lo-" she dropped the radio before she could finish her declaration. The silhouette of a large animal came into view, emerging from the darkness and honing in on the light that she held in her hand. It moved slowly at first, it's small, beady, black eyes adjusting to the light in the dark.

Ellis Grant remained rooted to the spot, waiting for the tyrannosaurus rex to come closer before finally, when it was so close that she could smell the bits of rotting flesh that was wedged between its razor sharp teeth, turning on her booted heel and taking off at full pelt back towards Main Street. The tyrannosaurs visual acuity was based on movement, Ellis knew that, it was one of the first things her father had taught her as a child. It was for this reason that the moment she moved the t-rex sprang into action. With one large step it had already covered as much ground as she had in the last couple of seconds of running. The animal chased her, stooping low every now and then to try and capture her between its jaws, and missing by mere inches.

The tremors that shuddered through the ground every time the tyrannosaurs heavy foot came into contact with the ground almost tripped Ellis up whenever they shook the earth beneath her feet. Despite this, she carried on, running as fast as her battered and bruised body would allow, desperate to get to Owen and the others, determined that this plan of hers was going to work.

With the t-rex hot on her tail, Ellis rounded the final bend that led onto Main Street. She was horrified to see that the Indominus Rex had discovered Owen and the others' hiding place, and was making short work of demolishing the make shift building in an attempt to get to her prey within. Once she was close enough, Ellis threw the flare with all of her might in the direction of the hybrid. The flare, which was still burning brightly, bounced off the back of the colossal animal before rolling to a stop on the ground.

Main Street fell silent as the two dinosaurs stopped in their tracks, sizing one another up. The flare flickered as it came to an end until finally the street was plunged into what felt to Ellis like pitch blackness. By the time her dark eyes had readjusted, the t-rex had stepped forwards and she now found herself stood between the two predators. Owen, Claire, Zach and Gray climbed out of their hiding place and positioned themselves so that Owen was stood at the front, shielding the others with his body. Not one of them was looking at either the Indominus or the tyrannosaur; instead all eyes were trained on Ellis who found herself stuck between a metaphorical rock and a hard place. To her left, the tyrannosaurus rex, which couldn't see her as long as she kept still but which would surely kill her the moment her fear got the better of her and she trembled. To her right, the Indominus Rex, a creature bred to be terrifying, and one that had become just that. There was absolutely nothing she could do to hide from the hybrid.

The Indominus Rex took a threatening step forward, mirroring its actions Ellis took a staggered step backwards. Her breath hitching in her throat when she realised her movement had alerted the t-rex to her presence. The tyrannosaur roared, a sound that bad every hair on Ellis' body stand on end. Both animals were looking at her now, and in less than a second both advanced towards her, their prey, at a frankly alarming speed for animals so large. The t-rex reached her first, and the wind was knocked from her lungs as the impact of the t-rex's snout against the side of her body sent the 5'7" girl hurtling through the air. She crashed to a halt against a table and chairs, sending furniture flying in her wake. Ellis screamed with the pain, and glanced down to find a jagged piece of metal protruding from her abdomen. Crimson blood saturated her shirt, and tears stung in her eyes. Ellis opened and closed her mouth repeatedly as she gingerly touched the tip of the metal shard. She moved it slightly and screamed again as a pain radiated through every nerve in her body. The metal shard had pierced her back, coming out at the other side just shy of her naval. She was pinned to the spot, unable to move, petrified by fear and pain. She blinked through her tears; her vision blurry, but just clear enough to make out the shapes of the Indominus and the tyrannosaur battling with one another, the entire scene becoming more hazy the longer she watched, a lightning fast blur or teeth and claws.

Owen didn't have time to think about what he'd just witnessed; instead he had to get Claire and the boy's out of harm's way. The tyrannosaurus rex and Blue teamed up, battling the Indominus Rex fiercely. The fight moved rapidly, pushing the dinosaurs to the far end of Main Street, towards the large man made lagoon that was usually a star attraction for the park. Debris seemingly fell from the sky as the three animals crashed into buildings as they fought.

"Owen, run!" Ellis managed to scream, despite the searing pain it caused to so much as breathe. Her voice was raspy, and her throat was painful, but it was loud, louder than she'd ever shouted before and not the sort of voice that Owen would find easy to disagree with. On the orders of his best friend, Owen ran across the street, pulling Claire and the boys along behind him as he dragged them into a store in an attempt to seek safety.

Outside, Ellis's eyes started to droop, her eyelids becoming hooded the weaker she became. The familiar chirp of Blue, the velociraptor Elle had believed to be dead, was the last thing she heard before everything faded to black. It was calm for a moment, the darkness came and silence fell, the agonising pain she had been feeling ebbed slowly away as though being washed away by a warm sea. She felt light, happy, and euphoric almost, and then, Ellis Grant felt nothing at all.

At the water's edge, the Indominus Rex lost its footing, falling onto its side as the t-rex surged forward to attack once again. Blue used the tyrannosaur as a launching pad, diving off of the much larger animal to attack the Indominus one last time before bouncing back to the ground again with a low hiss. There was a pause in the attack, as though Blue and the tyrannosaur knew that something else was going to happen. Then, the surface of the lagoon, that had been pitch black and completely still, swelled as though something were moving just below it. The movement became more frequent and the ripples in the water's surface became larger until finally the mosasaur broke through, capturing the hybrid between its superior and far stronger jaws and pulling the Indominus back into the water. It was over quickly, and the mosasaur returned to the depths of the lagoon with its prey in tow. The water soon became still again and the commotion and chaos of the past 24 hours dissipated.

The tyrannosaurs rex watched as the figure of the mosasaur disappeared into the black water, she was breathing heavily and in the light that was coming with the break of dawn, Owen noticed for the first time since arriving on the island, just how old and battle worn the t-rex was. She had large scars that littered her leathery skin; they stood out white against her dark hide, a stark contrast to the fresh wounds she was now sporting following her more recent fight for dominance. She truly was a terrifying creature, but was also something of the utmost beauty to behold. Ellis would have described her as elegant, almost regal in this moment, and Owen would have laughed at her for it, never admitting that he agreed. The creature turned away, not bothering with the humans that were watching her open mouthed from behind the safety of a concrete pillar. The weary warrior made her way back towards the jungle, bypassing paddock nine without a second glance, heading into the vast open spaces of the island, reclaiming her freedom.

Blue watched as the much larger animal vanished into the jungle before turning to face Owen. She chirped happily and Owen, Claire and the boys stepped forwards. Blue cocked her head to the side, as though she were silently asking her alpha what was next. Owen shook his head slowly, and the animal appeared to understand. She bowed her own, much larger, head low and then took off in the opposite direction to that which the t-rex had taken.

Now that they found themselves in a state of relative safety, Gray stepped forwards, tugging on Owen's shirt to get the older man's attention. "Where's Ellis?" He asked, his voice almost as small as he was.

Owen frowned, straightening up and surveying the street. He remembered her shouting, ordering them to get themselves clear of the destruction, but he didn't remember her following them, and he couldn't remember where he'd last seen her.

"Oh my god." Claire breathed out, breaking away from the group when she finally spotted Ellis in the street. The red head ran, despite the increased pain her heels caused her feet with every step she took and when she finally reached Ellis she covered her mouth to suppress a cry of devastation. Ellis lay lifeless, her slight frame covered by debris, trapping her limbs beneath large pieces of concrete. Her skin was a so pale that it almost appeared to be translucent, and she was lying in a warm pool of thick, claret blood. "Owen…" Claire sobbed, not bothering to fight the tears that flowed hot and heavy down her porcelain cheeks.

"N-no..no.." Owen dropped to his knees, pulling what bits of debris he could lift off of Ellis and tossing them aside. He brushed her hair, which was matted and covered in a mixture of cement dust, sweat and blood, out of her face, cupping her cheek in his rough calloused hands. "C'mon Elle…don't do this to me." He spoke hurriedly, moving his hand to her neck where he checked frantically for a pulse.

"Is…is she?" Gray asked through strangled sobs.

Zach, who had been helping Owen move as much debris as he could sat back on his heels when he moved a piece of concrete and was met with the metal shard that was still run through Ellis' abdomen. "Owen…Owen what do we do?" Owen ran a hand through his hair, his face contorted with a look of sheer devastation and grief. He shook his head, he didn't know.

Getting slowly to his feet, Owen sensed another presence and turned quickly towards it, aiming his weapon, his index finger hovering less than a millimetre away from the trigger. He lowered it the moment he realised that the presence wasn't a threat, but was in fact Lowery, who had come down from the control room after watching the entire scene on the parks live surveillance. Lowery didn't even flinch when the gun was pointed at him, undeterred by the possibility that his life could have been ended without a moment's notice. He wasn't even looking at Owen, or the gun. Instead, his gaze was fixated firmly on Ellis Grant, the girl who was for all intents and purposes the love of his life, who now lay lifeless on the ground.

In an instant his demeanour changed, he moved quickly, calling out her name and making for her body like a man possessed. Owen used his body as a barrier, wrapping his arms tightly around the slightly shorter man in a bear hug. "Ellis!" Lowery wept, "Grady get off me, get out of my way, let me help her. We have to help her."

Owen was crying now, tears leaving track marks in the dirt on his cheeks. "She's gone man, there's nothing we can do, she's gone…don't fight it man…" He tightened his grip on Lowery who made one last attempt to fight to free himself before he collapsed into Owen, sobbing into his shirt.

"I love her…she can't be gone…"

"I know, I love her too...I love her too."

The hum of rotator blades of a helicopter could be heard over Lowery's anguished cries, and over the next couple of minutes the sound got closer until finally, as the sun rose, the helicopter came into view. Too little too late, Owen thought, but there were still two young boys that Owen needed to get off this island. To get to safety.

"We've got to go." Owen straightened up, releasing Lowery from the embrace he'd held him in for the past couple of minutes.

Opposite him, Claire, who had buried her face in Gray's hair as she cried, looked up. "We can't leave her here…"

"We won't." Owen assured her. "I won't."

* * *

As the helicopter took off from the landing pad, Owen rested his forehead against the glass of the window. Opposite him, Claire had either arm around the shoulders of both of her nephews, both of whom rested their heads on her chest, their eyes closed but sleep not likely to come anytime soon. Lowery Cruthers sat on the floor beside Ellis, her cold hand in his. He was staring dead ahead, not saying a word, he hadn't spoken since his outburst and Owen wasn't sure he ever would again.

Out the window Owen watched as the island, rugged and craggy breaking sharply out of the ocean, became smaller and smaller. If he never saw Isla Nublar again it would be too soon.

* * *

 **A/N: So, that's it. The final chapter of Insatiable has been posted. A fic that was almost two whole years in the making. I just want to take the time to say thank you to everyone that has read this fic over the past two years. I know it's been a long process, but for those of you that have stuck with me, and with Ellis, thank you so much. Ellis Grant was the first OC I ever wrote a fic for, she means so much to me and this fic is so special. I can't explain how pleased I am that it's finally finished, that I made it to the end of the movie. I want to say a special shoutout to Rosie for being my beta for this, she's basically gone through the entire writing process with me and somehow has not gotten sick of me, or my writing yet. In celebration of finishing the fic, I revamped the Insatiable blog which you can find on tumblr (jurassicinsatiable) there will be some new edits on there over the next few days.**

 **As always, if you could leave a review, or follow/fave the fic that would be amazing. I really want to know what everyone thinks of this ending. Also...keep your eyes peeled because there may or may not be an epilogue on the horizon.**

 **Thank you all again, you've all been amazing. I love you, I love this fic.**

 **Ally & Ellis xo**


	18. Epilogue

The television had been on for such a long time, that the set had started humming quietly a couple of hours ago and the screen had actually become hot to the touch. The two people watching it had not noticed this however, in fact, neither one of them had moved from their spot rooted to the sofa for the past twelve hours. The news channels were all broadcasting the same thing, the Isla Nublar disaster. The coverage was much more than it had been in the 1990s, although that being said the island was still a well-kept secret from the public the first time chaos had reined on the small land mass 250 miles off the coast of Costa Rica. Images flashed on the screen, live feeds from helicopters flying as close as they were legally able to around the island, showing the rest of the world the mass evacuation.

Large cruise liners pulled out of the docks, carrying thousands upon thousands of people, holiday makers and park workers alike. Some were injured, others much worse. The news channels didn't show their faces, but they were all much the same, solemn, shocked and many of them grief stricken. No one would forget the events of the day in a hurry, no matter how much they wished that they could.

"Have you heard anything?" It was the first time that either one of them had spoken in a number of hours. Her husband actually flinched at the sound of a voice that wasn't coming from the television set. Without taking his eyes off the screen the elder man shook his head, no.

"Not since I called her yesterday." He responded quietly, after a moment's thought. "I should have known something was wrong."

"You couldn't possibly…" His wife took his hand in her own, stroking her thumb gently across his palm. The skin of his hands had always been rough, it came part and parcel with a lifetime of working in the outdoors. "There was no way anyone could have predicted something like this."

He looked at her pointedly, a frown momentarily flashing across his weathered features. He had predicted this, the moment they'd opened the damned park he'd protested, citing that it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. Noticing his expression, his wife stood up from the sofa. She stretched her limbs, which had gone stiff from sitting in the same position for such a long time, and moved to the other side of the room. She glanced out of the window of the trailer, at the vast expanse of the Montana Badlands. Their entire family had lived here for such a time that she'd forgotten how beautiful the Badlands were, and for a moment she was silent. She pictured their family, years ago, when their daughter was much younger. She'd run happily around the dig sites, proudly wearing one of her father's old plaid shirts, not caring that it was far too big for her. She also wore his patterned red neckerchief. She'd started off wearing it around her neck, as her father had done, but soon took to wearing it either wrapped around her wrist, or tied tightly to the waistline of whatever pair of shorts she was wearing that day. There was never a day she'd been without it after that, and her mother didn't doubt that she still had it with her now, wherever she may be.

Natalie Grant smiled at the memory before she turned back to her husband, who had torn his gaze away from the television set to look at his wife. For a long time they simply watched one another, their expressions identical, terrified.

"They're saying everyone should wait to hear…" Natalie said quietly.

"To hell with what they're saying." Alan Grant stood up, leaning down to retrieve his hat from the coffee table in front of him. "I'm phoning Masrani's people, we're going to find our daughter."

It had taken hours, most of which consisted of Alan Grant being put on hold as Masrani Global operators desperately tried to find _'someone in charge'_ to put him through to. The news that Simon Masrani was one of those that had lost their lives on the island had yet to break, and no one wanted to be the whistle blower on something as big as that, and so Dr Grant was passed from pillar to post as he tried to find out exactly what it was that had happened. His position in the world of palaeontology, and his past affiliation with InGen and the original park was the only reason that Alan Grant eventually found himself on the telephone with Richard Weisner, the Chief Operating Officer, and currently the highest ranking employee of Masrani Global. Their discussion had been a long and heated one, and had ended with Weisner reluctantly agreeing to fund a private flight for both Alan and Natalie Grant to travel to Costa Rica to find their daughter.

They didn't bother to pack, choosing instead to leave as quickly as possible. When the helicopter arrived at the dig site to pick them up Alan took one last look at the small trailer, the one he'd raised his only child in, before he ducked his head low and made his way over the to the chopper.

* * *

Alan had forgotten just how much he detested flying, he hated the way his stomach dropped during take-off and he despised the way his hand sweat and his knuckles turned white as he gripped onto the arms of the chair he was, perhaps too tightly, fastened into. Man wasn't made to fly; it was unnatural to be so high up where the air was so thin and the environment so hostile. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to think about something, anything else besides the tin can he was currently trapped inside.

 _"_ _But daddy, I bet that's what the dinosaurs thought too…" A little girl, with dark chocolate coloured eyes stared up at her father. She held out his hat, which he took from her with a gentle smile and placed back on his head. "I bet the dinosaurs were scared to fly in the beginning as well"_

 _"_ _You think so?" Alan asked his daughter, bending down to scoop her into his arms, spinning around as he did so and smiling when she giggled with glee._

 _Ellis didn't answer her father's question for a short while; instead she lost herself in the moment. She stretched out her arms and closed her eyes, feeling the wind whip through her mousy brown hair and the warm Montana sun beat down against the skin of her bare shoulders. Alan spun her around until he felt dizzy, and only then did he place Ellis back on the ground, despite her protests that he continue. He was leaving later that afternoon, flying across the country to give a presentation on his studies into the resonating chambers of velociraptors. Ellis had overheard him talking to her mother about his apprehension about flying, and she had since taken it upon herself to make him feel better about his journey._

 _As she looked up at him, Alan dropped down, sitting on his haunches so that his eyes were level with his daughters. Ellis' small hand found his face and she ran her fingertips across the stubble that peppered his jaw. "Don't be scared daddy." She whispered, leaning very close to him as she spoke. "The Archaeopteryx wasn't scared."_

 _Ellis Grant, even at the tender age of six, never failed to astonish her father. Her mind was brilliant, her memory even more so and at her words, Alan pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head as he did so. "I love you Ellie."_

A jolt of turbulence dragged Alan from his memories and he gripped the arm rests so tightly that his tan knuckles turned a brilliant white. He glanced towards his wife, partly out of concern for her safety, mostly because he knew she'd be smirking at him had she witnessed his moment of terror. The flight from Montana to San Jose took eight hours, and whilst she had fought it Natalie Grant had fallen asleep just 40 minutes after the plane reached altitude, the lack of sleep the night before getting the better of her. Alan watched his wife sleeping soundly, and somewhere in the pit of his stomach jealousy reared its ugly head. He envied her blasé attitude to flying, and that fact that she had fallen asleep so quickly. He knew however that, though she appeared to be sleeping soundly, thoughts of their daughter were never far from the forefront of her mind, just as they were his, and her soft mutterings of their daughters name as she slept only affirmed this.

He took her hand gently in his own, the act seeming to soothe his wife who shifted her position in her chair and moved to rest her head on his shoulder, all the while still sleeping. Alan turned, redirecting his gaze out of the window at the clouds that they were flying through. Their eight hour flight was almost over; pretty soon they'd be landing at San Jose where they'd be met by a Masrani Global helicopter that would transport them the rest of the journey to wherever the survivors of the Jurassic World disaster were being kept, away from the prying eyes of the press.

When they landed at San Jose, Alan shook his wife, gently rousing her from her well-deserved sleep. When she opened her eyes they were glassy, hazy with sleep and still red from the tears she'd shed over the course of the past twenty four hours. It was the fear of now knowing that had caused Natalie Grant to break down on more than one occasion in the last day, and her distress was now evident on her face. Alan too wore a tired expression, one accentuated by the wrinkles that now creased the corners of his eyes and lined his forehead. His eyes seemed hollow, sunken into their sockets with lack of sleep and his beard was unkempt, in desperate need of a shave. The Grant's disembarked the private jet that had picked them up in America, and walked across the tarmac to the Masrani Global helicopter that was waiting for them. They didn't speak the entire way, both of them too apprehensive, too worried sick to be able to formulate any real sentences.

The chopper took them away from the main land's airport and flew them further out towards the sea. Against his better judgement Alan glanced down out of the window, towards the ground. He watched as the bustling city of San Jose was left behind them, as the buildings faded into greenery and then finally as a large expanse of concrete came into view. From the height they were flying at, the masses of people below them looked like ants, scurrying around on the ground. Alan held his breath when he realised that they must have arrived, that this was the hangar where everyone that had been evacuated must be, where Ellis must be.

"We're here." He turned to Natalie, giving her hand a light squeeze. His wife nodded, she'd been doing the same as he had, looking out of the window to her left and taking in their surroundings. The landing felt painfully slow and Dr Grant shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the helicopters rotator blades slowed, causing the chopper to gently glide towards the ground. It was a much softer landing than his last helicopter journey had been, though it didn't stop his stomach from performing summersaults until the moment the helicopter touched down on the ground. Part of him knew however, that his apprehension had less to do with his current mode of transport and much more to do with the very real possibility that his daughter, his only daughter, had not been as lucky as he had been all those years ago.

* * *

It had been more than forty eight hours since Owen Grady had stopped, taken a moment to catch his breath or even sit down and so whilst the boys slept and Claire lovingly stroked their heads Owen exited the air hangar, breathing in the fresh Costa Rican air and turning his face up towards the sun. All the survivors had been brought to the abandoned hangar from the boats, a triage centre had been set up to tend to the injured and a list of the dead was currently being compiled by a handful of Jurassic World staff on a table in the far corner.

Families arrived in waves, most of them panicked, demanding answers to questions that Owen simply could not give them. _How did this happen? Where are my loved ones? What's going to happen now?_

He'd arrived in the early hours of the morning, when the sun was just breaking over the horizon. Most of the people there had been asleep when they'd landed in the helicopter, but a team of paramedics had been waiting up, having had word that there had been casualties on the island.

They'd taken Ellis first, putting her on a gurney and wheeling her into the triage centre where a number of volunteer doctors and surgeons were already working on countless other patients. Owen had asked where the medics had come from and had been told that some had travelled from the city, others from much further afield, all of them wanting to help in the best way they could. He'd hovered around the medical bay for some time, marvelling at how sophisticated it seemed for something that can't have been set up for longer than a few hours. Then, after realising there was very little he could do for the people there, he had moved away. He found Claire and the boys after that, making sure they were comfortable before he tended to Lowery. He'd sat the smaller man down with a hot drink, splashing a little something extra in there to calm his nerves. Lowery hadn't spoken in hours, and Owen half expected that he never would again, but he talked to him nonetheless, ever hopeful that his mindless ramblings might encourage some sort of response. That had been hours ago, Lowery still hadn't said a word and now Owen found himself alone, stood outside, thankful to be away from the stuffy air in the hangar.

It was only when an ageing man grasped Owen's shirt in his hands was the handler dragged from his thoughts.

"Where is my daughter?" The man demanded, his words more of a growl than a question.

Owen sighed. "It's advised that all families check in at the information desk over there," he pointed to the table in the far corner, "they'll take your name and do their best to reunite you with your daughter." His words were robotic, sounding almost as though they had been rehearsed. That wasn't the case however, but he had repeated them so many times since arriving at the air hangar that by this point he doubted he'd ever forget them. He watched the man in front of him carefully; his face was gaunt with tiredness and his hair greying. He wore a red plaid shirt and a light pair of cargo pants. On his head was a wide brimmed fedora, shielding his eyes from the sun. In the back of his mind Owen took note of the accessory, categorising it as something he felt he had seen before, though he didn't comment on it. Instead he simply glanced down at the older gentleman's hands that still held Owen's light blue shirt in a vice light grip. "I hope you find your daughter." He added quietly.

The man frowned, clearly unsatisfied with Owen's response but released his shirt from his grasp nonetheless. Behind him his wife held out her hand, her cheeks were tear stained and her eyes were red with lack of sleep. "Come on Alan." She called out, smiling slightly when her husband moved away from Owen and took her hand in his own.

It was then that it clicked for Owen. Alan Grant had changed considerably since Owen had met him as a child, he was much older now, and tired looking but he still wore that exact same hat. As the couple moved to walk away, over to the table Owen had pointed them towards, he called after them. "Is your daughter Ellis Grant?" Owen asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Natalie and Alan stopped in their tracks, and Dr Grant glanced over his shoulder towards the man he'd previously accosted. "How did you know?" He asked cautiously.

"Oh, I'm sorry…" Owen held out a hand, smiling slightly when Alan shook it before he returned it to his side. "We've met once; a long time ago…I can't believe I'd forgotten about it actually." Alan pulled a face, hurrying Owen along. "My parents brought me to one of your dig sites when I was a kid, back when you were doing the summer programme in 93…you uh, you scared the life out of me."

Alan narrowed his eyes, taking in the male's appearance. He looked vaguely familiar, though not enough that he was able to place him in any specific memory. "I scared a lot of children during those summer programmes…I apologise."

"No, no please. Don't." Owen shook his head. "Your description of velociraptor attack patterns, that was the entire reason I agreed to this gig. I worked with the raptors because of you…I worked with Ellis." At the mention of her name, Owens childlike excitement at being reunited with Alan Grant dissipated and he shrunk into himself slightly. "I never told her that story before…"

"A-are you Lowery?" Natalie asked with a small smile.

Owen glanced at Ellis' mother and laughed quietly. "God no. I'm Owen."

"Ahh…Owen Grady" Natalie nodded knowingly. "I've heard a lot about you"

"You have?" Owen and Alan said in unison. Owen had no idea that Ellis had spoken to anyone about him, and Alan had been so frustrated with Ellis for leaving in the first place that he had barely spoken to or about her since the moment he read the letter she'd left behind for him. He regretted that today.

Natalie nodded, a small smile dancing across her features. Owen returned the smile, taking in Natalie Grant's appearance. She looked so much like Ellis, the same hair colour and mouth, it was astonishing really. "Is she here?" Natalie asked then, causing Owen to swallow hard. "Is she okay?"

"I think you'd better come with me."

Alan and Natalie exchanged a worried glance before nodding and stepping aside to allow Owen Grady to lead the way. Owen strode forwards, and the Grant's followed diligently behind him, clinging tightly to one another as though their bodies were one. He led them past the registration table where a number of families were queued up, desperate to hear about the wellbeing of their loved ones. They followed as Owen weaved in and out of the rows of beds that filled the enormous hangar and Natalie cast a glance towards the triage bay where a number of medics were treating patients with superficial wounds.

They came to a much more advanced looking medical bay, where each bed was hidden behind a white curtain. Alan took it all in, it reminded him of a hospital, so sterile, white and clean, if not just a little more haphazardly thrown together. Owen stopped by a large white curtain; it was drawn to cover the bed and patient behind it. Natalie gasped.

"I-is she?" Natalie asked. Owen nodded and pulled the curtain to, allowing the Grant's access to their daughter's bay. "Ellis…" Natalie's breath caught in her throat as she called out her daughter's name.

Surrounding Ellis Grant was a multitude of machines, screens, intravenous drips, ventilators and a heart monitor which counted her shallow heart beats. Her skin, which was usually sun kissed, was deathly pale and lacerations and bruises littered her skin. She was intubated, a tube going in through her mouth, down her throat and into her lungs, breathing for her and keeping her alive. She had never looked more fragile in her entire life, as though the slightest breeze would shatter every bone in her body.

A doctor stood at the foot of the bed, a clipboard in his hand as he took down observations, her blood pressure and heart rate. He turned when her parents entered the bay and offered the Grant's a sad sort of smile.

"She's incredibly lucky your daughter…" He stated.

Alan glanced from Ellis, to the doctor, and then back to Ellis again. "What happened?"

The doctor placed the clipboard back in its place at the foot of Ellis' bed before her turned to her parents, keeping his body language relaxed as not to distress them further. "…we're not sure exactly. What we do know is that a metal rod, probably a piece of debris, pierced her abdomen. It punctured her right lung and, though we can't be certain at this point without an MRI scan, appears to have caught her spinal cord."

A sound that could only be described as anguish escaped Natalie Grant's lips at the doctors words, and Alan squeezed her hand a little tighter at the sound of it.

The doctor paused for a moment, allowing Ellis' mother a moment to compose herself before he continued. "…a couple of broken ribs, wrists likely sprained, laceration to one of her forearms which looks as though it could be infected, we're treating her with intravenous antibiotics as a precaution…"

"Will she recover?" Alan asked his expression steely.

"I wouldn't want to comment so early on, but I will say that if she'd gotten here any later then her chances would have been drastically reduced." The Grants were clearly not satisfied with his roundabout answer and so with a small sigh the doctor continued. "As I said, nothing is certain, but I am hopeful. Your daughter is a fighter, and we've already called for evac to get her to the Clinica Biblica in San Jose. Depending on what the MRI there shows, if there is extensive damage to the spinal cord…Mr and Mrs Grant, your daughter may never walk again." Natalie sobbed again. "But she's been lucky thus far, and I wouldn't give up hope on her just yet."

Everyone around the bed fell silent. The doctor gave the Grants one last sympathetic look before he excused himself and moved away to tend to another patient. Alan, Natalie and Owen all stood, watching Ellis carefully for a long while. The only sound that could be heard was the quiet beeping of the heart rate monitor and the rhythmic hum of the ventilator that worked to inflate and deflate Ellis' lungs.

After a couple of minutes Owen cleared his throat, glancing sideways towards Ellis' parents before he spoke. "She saved a lot of people…" He explained quietly. "…and she'd hit me for saying it, but Ellis is a hero."

Natalie glanced towards Owen with a small, genuine smile. Tears glistened in her eyes and she reached out, taking Owen's hand in her own in a gesture of silent thanks.

"If there's anyone on earth that could survive something like this, it's your daughter. She's the best person I know, she's my best friend." Owen gave Natalie's hand a quick squeeze before he turned to leave the bay. "I'll leave you two alone for a while, I've got to find Lowery, I'm sure he'd love to meet you."

When they were alone, Alan and Natalie embraced a mixture of relief and devastation washing over the both of them. When they pulled apart, Alan took his daughters hand in his own, ignoring how cool her skin felt against his own. "She'll pull through this." He said defiantly and beside him Natalie nodded.

As the pair of them stood there, amongst the machines that were keeping their baby girl alive, Alan thought back to something someone had said to him once, long ago. At the time he'd thought it was pretentious, mindless ramblings of a man who thought far too highly of himself in Dr Grant's opinion, but now, it seemed fitting.

"Life finds a way Natalie, Ellis will find a way." He said quietly.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, this really is the end this time. Please please please leave a review, I am so keen to see what everyone thinks of the epilogue. Did you like it? Were you disappointed? Happy? Please let me know all of your thoughts. Also head to jurassicinsatiable . tumblr . com to see some Ellis/Insatiable edits. I've made a couple these past few weeks because I've been so emotional over the end of this fic.**

 **Once again, I just want to take the time to thank everyone that has read the fic. You are all incredible, without you I wouldn't be writing fics at all. I'm going to miss Ellis so much, but who knows... after all they are filming Jurassic World 2!**


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